Red Archer
by PheonixCawCaw
Summary: Natasha and Clint finally find their lost daughter after more than fourteen years. Their daughter, Natalee. Now it's their greatest mission, surviving a teenage assassin. Rated T for language.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Originally, I was going to finish the rewrite for this but then I was like, screw it! I didn't like how little sixth grade me wrote it so I am redoing it. New characters, more character development, more Natalee being a little fifteen year old smartass. Relax, it's going to be fun. :) Natalee's symbol on her suit is similar to Hawkeye's from Avengers Assemble...only Red. Basically if you search** _ **Hawkeye symbol costume**_ **it's the first picture there.**

 **Vancouver, Canada**

Fifteen year old Natalee Hill took in a deep breath. She was standing on the roof of a research building that had been selling weapons. She had auburn spiral curls (like Black Widow in Iron Man 2 when she was fighting) and grey-blue eyes. She wore a black cat suit. The top was zipped up all the way and the sleeves ended at her wrists. There was a red symbol on her chest, two thick diagonal lines coming to a point, facing downwards. She had a belt with little explosives, two guns holstered on either thigh, and boots that stopped beneath the knee. A quiver with red feathered arrows was strapped to her back and a collapsable bow was folded against the quiver. A watch was around her left wrist, the screen of it on the inside. "You ready to do something stupid?" She asked her partner, Billie Morse, through the comms. The, also fifteen year old, blonde girl laughed on the other end. Billie had wavy blonde hair and blue eyes. Her suit was a dark blue, a large white stripe down the front and along the inside of her legs, stopping above the knee. She had black boots that stopped below the knee and her own mask. She used two batons as her primary weapons and her codename was Mocking-Jay.

 _"Try not to get shot this time"_ Billie laughed.

"That only happened once" Natalee pointed out and pried the vent cover off. "I'll meet you in there"

 _"Sounds like a plan. Keep your comm on or else Agent Hill's going to have a fit"_ Billie said.

 **NATALEE POV**

I laugh lightly and jump into the vent, my toes and fingertips grazing the sides of the metal as I slide down into the building. The bottom was a few feet away and I tighten my muscles, slamming my hands and feet against the sides to slow myself down. Gracefully, I land in a crouch, my fingertips balancing me. I push myself forward to start crawling through a horizontal vent. I peer into the lab through the slits of the vent cover. There's silence. The lab is dark. "Mocking-Jay, you there?" I whisper into the comms

 _"Yeah"_ Billie answers in a hushed voice. _"Where are you?"_

"Over a lab. I'm going in" I whisper and take a knife out of the holster on the inside of my right wrist. Using the tip of the blade, I pry the vent cover off and slide it behind me. I push myself forward so I can lower down into the lab feet first. I hang by my fingers for a moment and drop down, landing with a small thud on the tile floor. "It doesn't look like there's a whole lot in here" She said.

 _"The energy level is really high in this building. None of the others were this high"_ My partner says in the comm.

"Okay, so we have a highlevel reading and no weapons" I sigh. This is just great. A weapons dealer had stolen information and blueprints from SHIELD. We had been to two other research buildings with no results. "Did you find anything?"

 _"There are voices coming from down the hallway. Which lab did you say you were in?"_ She asks in a whisper. I wander over to the window, looking down to see how far up I am.

"Fourth floor" I say. "I'm going to check for a basement. The signal gets stronger when I get near the floor"

 _"Don't do anything stupid"_ She says with a sigh.

"I'll let you know" I laugh lightly and the rattling of the doorknob catches my attention. I run to a table to climb back into the vent. The door opens and I slide on my hip behind the table.

"There's nothing in here" The brunette man says. I take a knife from the inside of my right sleeve and flip it around in my hand. I shift my feet under me so I'm kneeling behind the table. I push myself up to peer over the dark grey phenoloc resin table top. They're looking away from me. Taking out my bow would take too long and they would hear me. I stand up and hold the knife by the blade.

"You know, when you think someone broke into your lab, you should probably check behind the door" I say. The brunette man turns and I throw the knife. The blade pierces his hand and pins it to the wall. He screams out in pain and I jump off of different table to grab the man in a thigh hold, flipping myself to the side and flipping him to the floor. He sprawls across the tile in this pile of limbs. Meanwhile, the man with the knife in his hand pulls out the blade and I can't help but flinch. "I wonder if that hurts" I say smugly, my hands on my hips. My legs are suddenly swept out from under me and I land on my back. The knife man tries to stab me with my own blade but I roll to the side, underneath one of the movable tables. Rolling to my feet, I flip the table into the air and jump kick the bottom of the tabletop while in the air. That sent the knife man against the wall, knocking the knife out of his hand. I throw a little silver disc at the knife man that electrocutes him and knocks him out. Something hits me in the back of the head and I stumble forward. Sneaky son of a bitch. I run at the wall and flip off of it, landing on his shoulders and flipping him back onto his head, knocking him out.

 _"I found one of the blueprints, did you find anything?"_ Billie asks. I open the door and look up and down the hallway.

"Unfortunatley no, not yet. I had a little... _disaggreement_ with two guards over who should stay concious but I'm looking for an elevator or a staircase now" I keep my voice down as I pick up my pace down the hallway.

 _"I think I saw a staircase on the east side of the building"_ My blonde friend says and I hear her grunt. _"The guards are getting thicker where I am. I'm heading towards something important"_

"Want me to back you up?" I ask, stopping around a corner and peering around the edge. Seeing no danger, I continue down the left hallway.

 _"I'll let you know"_ She says smugly and I roll my eyes. Using my words against me, well played partner. The door to the staircase is at the end of the hallway and I take out my bow, jerking my fist forward to expand the rest of the bow. (Like hawkeye does in Avengers) I pull an arrow out and nock it into the string before opening the door. I wait a moment, listening for any sign of another person in the stairwell. The coast is clear. I let the door close and start padding down the staircase, my boots making small thuds against the concrete stairs. Third floor. Second floor. First floor. The staircase ends. I huff and look up. The building is about six or seven stories high. There has to be a basement. I look at the ground and see scuff marks on the floor. In front of me is a concrete wall. I put my arrow back into the quiver with the others and feel the wall for a keypad or secret panel. I feel metal instead of brick and I press my finger tips against it. There's a beep and the cover slides off, revealing a keypad.

"Nice" I whisper with a smirk and lean forward to look at the buttons. "Screw it" I say and punch the keypad. There's a spark of electricity and a thin trail of smoke. "Mocking-Jay, I found a creepy basement door. Are you okay up there?"

 _"A few guards but nothing I can't handle. Wait, you're going into a creepy basement door? Have you_ not _watched horror movies?!"_ Billie asked in a hushed voice.

"If there's a creepy serial killer in here, I scream for you, okay?" I roll my eyes and the door slides open.

 _"Fine"_ Billie huffs and feel along the wall for a lightswitch. The lights flicker to life and there's a soft hum of electricity. Yeah, this doesn't look good. I draw an arrow and slowly make my way down the old wooden stairs. This _really_ doesn't look good.

"Jay, if you don't here from me in the next ten minutes, come find me" I say in a hushed tone. If there _is_ someone down here, I do not want them to hear me.

 _"Do you know what's down there yet?"_

"No, I'm getting close to the bottom of the stairs" I whisper and stop on the bottom step, my weapon drawn. The light is faint but enough for me to be able to see everything. There's a computer off to the right. It's damp and cold down here. There's water dripping somewhere. I swallow hard and walk over, turning the ancient computer on. It hums to life and the screen flickers on. I glance around me. It's a small concrete room with a moldy smell. Why would someone hide a working computer down here? It's cold and I feel a shiver run up my spine. The little line blinks in the password block. My fingers rest on the keys and I start hacking in, going to the admin privilege to bypass the authorization requirements and modify the regristry to attempt password. Simple. There's a beep and _Access Granted_ flashes across the screen. I take a flashdrive from a pocket on my belt and plug it into the port. The only sound in the room is the clicking from the keyboard and the hum of the computer. I start going through files. These are all the stolen stuff from SHIELD. Why would it be here? Deciding that going through all of this crap would be a waste of my oh so precious time, I hit download all. There's a loud, but muffled, explosion and dirt from the ceiling falls onto the floor in little streams. "Jay, please tell me that wasn't you" I say into the comm.

 _"Yes and no. Yes, I was the cause of it. No, I am unharmed"_ Billie says back. _"Hows the creepy basement?"_ She asks.

"I found a bunch of SHIELD files. I'm downloading everything-" A beeping stops me and I look at the screen.

 _"Download complete, iniciating self destruct sequence now. Fourty-five seconds"_ The computer says. Oh no.

"Billie, get out of there. The computer's going to explode" I say and grab the flashdrive. I sprint up the stairs. "Where are you?"

 _"Second floor. What the hell did you do?"_ Billie asks and I can hear her breathing heavily from running.

"I must have activated some sort of alarm while I was dowloading files from the computer" I say and run into a wall with my shoulder as I was making a sharp turn. "Just get out. You have thirty seconds" I say and see a window at the end of the hallway. I shoot an arrow at the glass, making multiple large cracks in the window. A man appears out a doorway and I drop, sliding on my hip to avoid a punch. While I'm under him, I kick my foot up and kick him in the stomach, knocking him aside. Twenty seconds. I do not have time for this. I draw an arrow and shoot the ground beneath his feet. There was a small beep and a small explosion went off, knocking him against the ceiling and knocking him out. Ten seconds. I get back to my feet and sprint towards the window. A few feet away, I jump and curl myself into a ball to crash through the window. Five seconds. The glass shatters around me and I realize the ground is not a few feet beneath me, but there was a fairly large slope. My eyes widen and the building explodes behind me, sending my towards the ground at a faster speed. Just barely, I can see Billie sliding down the hill on her hip. Fire and debris flies around over head and I grunt as I hit the ground. It's like something from one of those cartoons where the person bounces down the hill. I land on my shoulder and grunt again, then on my back, then on my hip, then on my back again. As I stop at the bottom of the slope, something hits the back of my head and I feel dizzy. I realize that I'm laying half on Billie when she groans.

"Coulson, we need an extraction" Billie says in her comm and pushes Natalee off of her. "Bottom of the slope on the east side of the building"

 _"We're on our way"_ Coulson says and I look at her.

"On the bright side, we got the stolen SHIELD files" I hold out the flashdrive.

Billie closes her eyes and rests her head against the ground. "Nice" She says and holds out her fist. I fist bump her and we do the hand explosion, making the sound effect with our mouths.

 **A/N: what do you think? Reviews are motivation. :D**

 **Oh! My mom's BDAY is today! :D yay!**


	2. Chapter 2

**ITS MY BESTIE'S BDAY! YAAAAAY! HAPPY BDAY TEAMPHOENIX18!**  
 **PinkyWinky44, I love your ideas and I'll be sure to try and work them in. If you people think of anything, feel free to tell me! Reviews get me off my butt to update more!**

It was around 8:45 when Marlo walked onto the bridge of the Helicarrier, a tablet loosely hugged to her stomach with one hand. She was sixteen and had wavy brown hair, just brushing her shoulders along with dark brown eyes. Marlo was the youngest of three adopted children of Nick Fury. Yes, Nick Fury had kids. They were all trained in martial arts, outside of S.H.I.E.L.D. The eldest was Andrew, eighteen years old. He had spiked dirty blonde hair, shaved around the sides of his head. His eyes were dark blue and he was usually kept to himself. The second oldest was Ryder. Seventeen years old, brown kept hair, bright blue eyes. They were all from different families but acted like they were one. All part of the Junior Agent program at S.H.I.E.L.D.

The girl walked up behind her adoptive father. He looked over his right shoulder and smiled. "Hi Dad" Marlo said with a smile and handed over the tablet. "Here are the files you requested"

"Thank you, Marlo" Fury took the tablet from her with a soft smile. "Agent Hill and Agent Morse have returned from their mission" He said, looking back at the screens. The girl smiled and turned around to head towards the junior wing of the Helicarrier. She was excited. Marlo had recently been promoted to the Junior Director, which is basically the Director of the junior division. She had been friends with Billie and Nikki before they met Natalee, back when they would be brought into S.H.I.E.L.D. with their parents. When they met Natalee, the four of them enjoyed hanging out together, on the Helicarrier and off.

 ***SCENE BREAK***

Billie groaned and rolled her shoulder back. Her and Natalee were standing in the hallway of the medical bay. Mocking-Jay escaped with a sprained wrist and had to wear a brace for a few days. During the fall, a glass shard buried itself in Natalee's stomach, to the left, and she had to get eighteen stitches. "Next time I tell you not to go into a creepy basement, don't do it" Billie said and narrowed her eyes at the auburn.

"Yes, because that has stopped me in the past" Natalee snorts in a laugh, crossing her arms over her chest. "Hey, on the bright side, the weapons were recovered" She smiled. Billie rolled her eyes but there was a smile on her face. A few of their missions involved doing something reckless and dangerous, but they always get the mission done.

"Yeah, well don't do anything stupid again. You know how much paperwork there is to find a new partner?" Billie smirks at her, making Natalee laugh.

"My methods _may_ seem stupid" The auburn shrugged and smiles mischieviously. "You're just not as... _durable_ as I am" She raised an eyebrow. Billie scoffed in a laugh. It was true. Natalee has a faster healing rate and a higher pain tolerance. In multiple situations where a normal fifteen year old girl would have most likely died, Natalee survived.

"Oh, that's how it is?" Billie crossed her arms over her chest. Natalee glances to the side, seeing Marlo walking towards them.

"Oh that's how it is" Natalee laughed and turned to address Marlo. "How's it going, Junior Director?" She winked at the older girl.

"I'm fine, smartass" Marlo flashes a smile at Nat. To other people, that kind of smile would seem fake, but to Natalee and Billie, it was joking. "So you two heard?" She glanced at Billie.

"We've been calling you JD for about two months. It was about time you got that position" The blonde girl said and playfully punched her shoulder. "Congrats. Are your brother's okay with it?"

"Andrew's a field agent, he doesn't want to deal with running the Junior Division and Ryder is...well Ryder" Marlo laughed lightly and Billie snorted.

"Where's Nikki?" Natalee asked. "I'm suprised she isn't here" She shrugged.

"Something with her mom" Marlo said. "What's the damage?" She looked at Natalee. The auburn throws her hands in the air.

"Why do you always look at me when you ask that question?!" She exclaimed and Billie laughed.

"Because you're normally the one doing stupid shit" The JD said with a serious look on her face.

"She's not wrong" Billie said, smiling at Natalee. "Stitches in on her stomach" She said to Marlo and her partner glared at her.

"You'd better go to the doctor this time, Natalee. I'm serious, I will shoot you with etorphine again" Marlo threatened. She's done that before. Natalee and Billie were twelve and Marlo was thirteen. Natalee had to get a small surgery to get a bullet taken out of her shoulder. She started freaking out when they tried to put her under. The anesthesia only worked for a minute before she suddenly woke up and tried to kill the doctor with a scalpal. It was a PTSD thing. Andrew grabbed a tranq gun and shot her with Etrophine, usually used for elephants. It kept her asleep for the surgery.

"I have no doubt you would" Natalee laughed and ran a hand through her curls. Her watch buzzed and she turned on her comm. "I'll be right there" She said and looked at Marlo and Billie. "Maria needs me. See you guys later" The auburn flashed a smile and jogged down the hallway. Her S.O. hadn't stopped by in the medical bay. Natalee couldn't blame her though, she's Director Fury's right hand woman, she's going to be super busy. If there was a problem, they would have sent another agent to come get her.

Natalee slowed when she reached the bridge. Maria told her to meet her on the bridge. She looked around and nibbled on her lip. "Hi Natalee" A voice said from behind her and she turned. Coulson smiled warmly at her. Maria was right behind him. She sighed and smiled at Natalee, who gave a small wave.

 **I KNOW! SHORT CHAPTER! I AM SO SORRY! BUT THERE'S A REASON FOR IT! IT'S SEPARATED! MAKE SURE TO WISH TEAMPHOENIX18 A HAPPY SWEET SIXTEEN!**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: I am so sorry for not updating. Writers block is seriously a bitch. And I got sick so I'm trying not to die. Coughing, slight fever, headache. Ugh. Been laying on the floor of my room**

Maria's phone buzzed and she pulled it from the side pocket of her S.H.I.E.L.D suit. "This is Hill" She answered, walking away from a group of agents that were close to her. She was outside Director Fury's office, just finishing up with a meeting.

 _"It's Phil. Natalee and Billie are in the infirmary"_ Coulson's voice came through. Maria stopped and her eyes widened. Natalee's been in the infirmary multiple times but it still worried her when she got the call. That girl's gotten herself into a lot of situations during her time in S.H.I.E.L.D.

"I'm on my way. What's the damage?" She asked as she headed down the hallway. She's admitted it before, she's attached to the crazy fifteen year old assassin.

 _"Stitches on her stomach from a glass shard. There was an explosion but they're both fine. The doctors already let them leave. I need to talk to you however. Meet me in the lab"_ The man said and hung up. The brunette sighed. She knew this was about Natalee's blood results. At the end of the hallway, she made a different turn and headed towards the labs.

 ***SCENE BREAK***

Coulson looked over when he heard familiar footsteps. A warm smile appeared on his face when he saw Maria and she returned the smile, though not as genuine. "Did the results come back?" She asked. He sighed and nodded. "And?"

"They're positive" Coulson said quietly. "Are you planning on telling her?" He asked and looked off to the side, watching a few lab techies work around the lab.

"She'll find out either way. I don't know how to break news like that. If she's angry at me, she could do something stupid and get herself hurt. How am I even supposed to bring this up?" Maria asked and leaned against the wall with her arms crossed over her chest. "Did you already call Romanoff and Barton?" The brunette asked the man.

Phil shook his head. "I thought you would tell her before we told her parents" He said, picking up a file from the metal table and handing it to her. "We've... _updated_...her personal file" He said. Maria sighed and hugged the file against her side.

"You know she isn't going to be happy with any of this" The woman grumbled, brushing a strand of hair from her face.

"That's why _you're_ going to tell her" Coulson smiled his dorky little smile, hands clasped in front of him. "That is all, Agent Hill" He gave a nod and walked away. Maria closed her eyes and sighed. This was _not_ going to be easy. Family was a sensitive subject for her young charge. She knew Natalee had lived with other kids who were training alongside her. She had seen them as family. Losing family is hard, makes people put up walls. Maria was one of the few people Natalee trusted in S.H.I.E.L.D. She didn't want to screw that up.

Agent Hill took a deep breath as she stopped at her own quarters to drop the file off. She'll give it to Natalee when she breaks the news. The door slid open and she entered the room, setting the file on the shelf by her bed. She pulled out her phone as she headed back out, calling Natalee's comm. There was a small beep, telling her Natalee had answered. "Hey, little monster, meet me at the bridge" She said.

 _"I'll be right there"_ Natalee said and she hung up.

 ***SCENE BREAK***

Maria had run into Coulson again on her way to the bridge. He needed to talk to Director Fury about something. He was ahead of her as they entered the bridge. "Hi Natalee" Coulson said, smiling warmly at the girl. She turned and spotted Maria immediately. The woman smiled softly at her and the girl responded with a wave. Once close enough, they softly fist bumped.

"You okay? Heard you were in the infirmary" Maria said, her head tilting slightly. Although she didn't act like it in public, she was _very_ protective of the curly haired assassin. She knew Natalee could handle difficult situations on her own.

"There was an explosion and we fell down a hill. Had to get stitches on my stomach" Natalee shrugged. "I've had worse though" She said, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Yes you have" The brunette woman ruffled her curls. "But with stitches, you're going to be out of the field for at least two weeks" She said and Natalee groaned dramatically.

"Stitches heal in like four days" Natalee said.

"You have to go through the rehab to get your strength back up in that side of your body and you know better than to go near explosives" Maria said. The auburn girl gave her an unamused look, an eyebrow raised.

"To be fair, Ria, I didn't _know_ it was an explosive until it started beeping" She clarified. "Why did you need to see me?" Natalee tilted her head. Maria was Fury's second in command, she was usually very busy.

"What? I'm not allowed to ask how my adoptive niece is doing?" Maria raised an eyebrow at her.

"Mm. Never said that. But we're both S.H.I.E.L.D. agents so it _is_ a little suspicious when you suddenly need to talk to me" Natalee said, twisting the watch around her wrist. "And I gotta change out of these bloody clothes, you know? Get my suit clean"

"Yeah. We just have to talk about stuff regarding your S.H.I.E.L.D file. I thought, since we're landing to refuel and resupply tomorrow in D.C., we could go to the zoo" Maria smiled at her and Natalee laughed.

"The zoo? You mean the same zoo where you finally chased me down?" She ran a hand through her curly auburn hair.

"Yeah. The same zoo where you hit me with a broom and bit me" Maria chuckled.

"You tackled me into a hotdog cart!" Natalee snorted. She pulled at the ends of her sleeves. "I'm actually glad you did though. _So_ tomorrow when we land in D.C., I'd love to go to the zoo to go over my S.H.I.E.L.D. file" She smiled.

"Good 'cause you didn't have a choice" Maria threw an arm over her neck, hugging her into her side. "I will see you tomorrow, okay little monster?"

"Yeah, okay. I'm going to go. I'll see you tomorrow" Natalee said with a small laugh and turned to heads towards the Junior Agent S.H.I.E.L.D. dorms.

"Bye, Natalee" Maria called after her.

 ***SCENE BREAK***

The door to Billie and Natalee's S.H.I.E.L.D dorm room slid open and the blonde girl walked in. She hit the button to close the door and leaned against the wall to pull her boots off. Her blue eyes looked up, noticing the bathroom door slightly open and the light on. "You got the bubbles, Nat?" She called.

"Yeah" Natalee called back. Billie disappeared into the closet. There was rummaging from inside the small mini-room. "So Maria wants me to go to the zoo with her tomorrow after we land in D.C. and talk about my S.H.I.E.L.D. file" She said loud enough for her partner to hear.

"Didn't she arrest you from a zoo?" Billie came back out of the closet in grey sweatpants and a black t-shirt with BB-8 on it from Star Wars.

Natalee looked up when the bathroom door was pushed open all the way. The tub was filled with bubbles, only Natalee's head, freckly shoulders, and feet were visible. Her curly auburn hair was up in a messy bun, held together by a blue ballpoint pen. "What's up, dude?" She asked, taking her earbuds out.

"I don't know, Nat. Don't you think it's weird that Maria is taking you somewhere to talk about your S.H.I.E.L.D file? I mean, why not talk about it, I don't know, _at_ S.H.I.E.L.D.?" Billie asked, jumping up to sit on the counter on the sink.

Natalee gave her a strange look and scoffed. "Way to make me paranoid, Bird" She snorted.

"I'm just saying. It's a little suspicious, right? You're the super spy, shouldn't you have picked up on this?" Billie asked.

"First off, my friend. I am not a... _super spy_. I am _far_ from it. And I don't need any more American government paranoia in my head" Natalee said, brushing a loose curl from her face.

The blonde girl sighed. "I forget that you're not actually from here"

"Russian refugee and proud of it" Natalee gave her a thumbs up.

"You know who you remind me of?" Billie tilted her head, her wavy blonde hair falling to one side.

"Oh boy. Who do I remind you of?" Natalee rested the back of her head against the edge of the tub.

"Black Widow. You know from your favorite pajama pants?" The girl smirked.

"Uncalled for, Billie" Natalee said and her friend raised her hands in surrender. "Why do I remind you of the Black Widow? We have _nothing_ in common"

Billie gave her an _are-you-serious_ look. "Really, Nat? You're both red headed assassins from Russia. How closer do you two have to be to be related?" She snorted.

Natalee snorted in laughter. "Okay, I am in no way, shape, or form related to the Black Widow, alright? I'm from a secret organization in Russia who escaped to Boston" She said.

"Whatever" Billie laughed lightly. She checked the time on her phone. "Alright, well I'm going to bed. Getting blown up can wear a girl out" She jumped off the counter.

"We didn't get blown up, Bird!" Natalee laughed. "We fell down a hill _because_ of an explosion"

"Yeah, that's totally different" Billie laughed as she left the room.

 ***SCENE BREAK***

Natalee came out of the bathroom in Black Widow pajama pants that were still maybe one too many sizes too big for her and a black t-shirt. She pulled her hair from the bun and jumped into her bed. "You're a dork" Billie said from her bed. Natalee threw the rubber band ball at her as she climbed into her own bed. "Getting into bed with your fabulous Black Widow pants and a _stuffed anteater_ -come on, what's that about?"

"You leave Jeff out of this" Natalee said, hugging the stuffed anteater close to her chest.

"My point is, you're a dork" Billie said.

"Yeah sure, _young padawan_ " Natalee snorted and rolled over. The blonde girl laughed and settled in her blankets. "Night, Bird"

"Night, Nat" Billie said with a yawn and shut off the light.

 **Yay! I finished the chapter! *happy dance* If any of you are interested, I have a Tumblr account under the same name. I've got some stuff just from me but I'm planning on putting a few Red Archer related things. Whatever *shrug***


	4. Chapter 4

**Reviews are awesome and motivational. :D Let me know what you guys think!**

Natasha and Clint were in the living room of their floor on the Avengers Tower. They were snuggled up on the black suede couch, Natasha insisted. A green blanket was thrown over their laps. They were watching Brave. Clint insisted. "Why are we watching a Disney movie, Clint?" Natasha asked quietly, taking another piece of popcorn from the bowl.

"Come on, Tash. It's a kickass archer girl with red hair. And it's Pixar" Clint said, looking at her with that same goofy smile she actually fell in love with. "It would be kind of cool to go to Scotland on vacation, right?"

"We've been to Scotland before" Natasha shifted so his arm was around her.

"I mean an actual vacation, Natasha. Where we can be tourists, you know? Buy those stupid knick-knacks everyone does. Take pictures with the statues and people" Clint said. Natasha looked up at him.

"Is this _really_ that important for us to go out on a vacation?" She asked with a small sigh out her nose. Her husband pouted. "Alright. We can take some time off from S.H.I.E.L.D. and the Avengers and...go on a vacation. Does it have to be Scotland?"

"Yeah, Tasha. It'll be fun" He chuckled, setting the bowl on the coffee table. "You know what else would be fun?" His eyebrows wiggled and he shifted to sit on his knees, Natasha laying on her back under him.

"Oh? And what would that be?" Natasha laughed lightly, rubbing her hands over his shoulders. He leaned down to gently kiss her. "So you really have your heart set on _Scotland_?" She asked in between kisses.

"Maybe I'd be open to _negotiation"_ Clint laughed, running a hand through her hair. The phone started ringing and they both sighed. "You want to get it or should I?" He asked.

"Well you're on top of me _so_ you're going to have to answer the phone" Natasha smirked at him. The blonde man grabbed the phone off the table next to the couch and pressed answer.

"Hello?" He answered. Natasha ran her hand up his chest and kissed his jaw.

 _"Agent Barton"_ Coulson greeted on the other end. _"We need you and Romanoff to come in"_ He said. Clint chuckled, looking at his wife.

"I'm, uh, kind of busy right now, Phil. Can it wait?" He asked. Natasha laughed and ran her hand through his short blonde hair.

 _"Clint. It involves your daughter"_ The man said.

Clint almost dropped the phone. "N-Natalee?" He sputtered and sat back. Natasha sat up.

"Natalee?" She repeated in a whisper. "What about Natalee?" She asked. They hadn't even _said_ her name. It always hurt too much. "Barton, give me the phone" Natasha held out her hand. Clint pressed speaker.

 _"I don't think we should talk about this over the phone. The carrier lands tomorrow in D.C. to refuel. We can talk about it then"_ Phil said and hung up.

"Do you think they found her?" Clint asked as he got up. He tossed the phone on the coffee table. "She's, what now?, _fourteen_? Do you think she knows? Where did she disappear to?" He rambled as he paced.

"Clint, we haven't seen our daughter in over fourteen years. It may not be good news" Natasha said. She hated to do so but her job always made her think of the worst. Any news was good news by this point.

"Tasha, you gotta stop thinking negatively. We'll go in to D.C. tomorrow" He put his hands on her arms and smiled. "Okay?" He kissed her lightly.

"Mm. Okay" Natasha smiled and kissed him again.

 ***SCENE BREAK***  
 **THE NEXT MORNING...**  
 **1200 hours**

Natalee groaned when something poked her. "Billie, I am not getting out of this bed" She said in a growl.

"That's what you said yesterday" Billie rolled her eyes. She crossed the dorm room, into the closet, and dug around for her suit. She pulled out one of her batons and stood by Natalee's bed. With a smirk, she pushed down on the switch to turn the Taser part on. Spinning it around in her hand a few times, she poked Natalee in the side. The young assassin squealed and scrambled away from the offending item.

"не ссать меня" Natalee growled at her. (Do not piss me off)

"Your S.O. wanted to talk to you, remember? It's not going to do you any good if you're lying in here" The blonde girl said, tossing her baton on the bed. "The carrier landed about four hours ago. My mom's taking me and LJ to the movies to see the new Star Wars movie" She smiled.

Natalee rolled over onto her back. "Have fun, nerd" She laughed.

"Don't make me bring Jeff into this" Billie pointed to the stuffed anteater currently at the foot of Natalee's bed.

"не говорить с Джеффом" Natalee narrowed her eyes. (Do not speak with Jeff)

"You know I don't understand Russian" Billie matched her look. Natalee usually cussed people out in Russian. Sometimes when she was really tired, upset, or pissed off, her accent would slip through. When Natalee first came to S.H.I.E.L.D., she had a Russian accent.

"I know" Natalee smiled cheekily at her. "Alright, I'm up. Go have fun with your mom" She punched her shoulder.

"What is with you and the violence?" Billie muttered as she pulled her shoes on. "Call me if you need me, Nat" She called over her shoulder as she left the dorm. Natalee sighed out her nose and rolled back over. She huffed in annoyance and pulled something out from under her ribs. How did a shoe get in her bed? She took a moment just to accept that she wasn't going to be able to sleep again that day. Natalee groaned dramatically and sat up. Her curly auburn hair fell into her face.

"Damn you, Morse" She muttered and jumped off her bed. The bathroom door closed behind her as she disappeared to shower.

 ***SCENE BREAK***

Clint jumped over the coffee table. "Tasha! Have you seen my shoe?" He called as he dropped to his hands and knees, looking under the couch. Natasha approached him from the hallway to their bedroom with his shoe in her hand.

"Would this be it?" She asked with a small laugh, tossing the shoe to him. Natasha was in black jeans, red t-shirt, black leather jacket, and heeled boots. Clint wore jeans, a purple shirt, and sneakers with a hoodie.

"Yeah, thanks" Clint slipped his foot in and tied it quickly. "How long until we get there?" He asked.

"Depends. It's about three hours to drive but around an hour flight" Natasha said. She stopped and took a deep breath. "Do you think she knows who we are?" She asked.

"I don't know" Clint sighed. "But we're going to meet her and find out" He smiled and kissed her lightly. "We should get going" He said.

"Yeah" Natasha gave a small nod and they headed for the elevator.

 **I don't use Word when I write and the program I** _ **do**_ **use doesn't have spell check so I don't always pick up on errors. I'm trying though! :)**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Sorry it's taking so long to update. Stupid science teacher won't put my grades in. Can't use my computer until my grade is up so I'm using my dad's computer. Which kind of defeats the purpose but whatever. Let me know what you think!**

 **NATALEE POV**

Someone shakes my shoulder for the fourth time in the last ten minutes. I groan in response and I hear an irritated huff from my partner. I'm lying on my stomach, my face buried in my pillow. My hair is probably sticking up in random places. "Natalee, come on" Billie says and shakes my shoulder again. "It's almost eleven, you gotta get up" She says. I take a deep breath and groan again. But louder and more dramatic. I _hate_ getting up before noon. With a passion. My classes don't start until two and I'm usually out all night with training or missions. Which probably explains my insomnia problem. "Agent Hill's going to be pissed at you if you're late" Billie's voice sounds farther away. She's probably in the closet. I can hear her moving things around. Almost makes me lift my head. Her footsteps get closer and I hear something like her nails hitting something metal. My eyes open. Uh oh. There's a small spark of electricity and my muscles tense. The blanket is kicked off me and I try to get away from her batons. There's a switch she can hit that electrifies the end. Like a Taser. She pulls it away and I'm left panting, lying on my back.

"Dammit Morse!" I glare at her. She smirks and twirls her baton in her hand, something her mom does too. Billie's dressed in dark blue skinny jeans and a Star Wars t-shirt.

"You're meeting Agent Hill in thirty minutes. I don't want to have to listen to you whine about being in trouble because you refused to get up" Billie says with a shrug and crosses the room to set her baton back into its holster on her suit.

"Where are you going?" I ask, propping myself up with my arms. Billie wouldn't be in jeans if she wasn't going somewhere. Normally sweatpants or shorts.

"My mom is taking me and L.J. to see the new Star Wars movie" Billie shrugs. She grabs her blue converse and sits on her bed to pull them on.

"I saw the trailer" I say and smirk. "The guy who plays the bad guy is _hot_ "

"Gee, Nat, thanks for informing me on the attractiveness of the antagonist of my favorite movie franchise" My partner says in a complete monotone voice, her gaze looking at her shoes as she tied the white laces. I snort in laughter. She glances up. "Come on, we don't get off the carrier very often. Go" She says. I groan and roll off my bed, landing on my knees on the floor. She's not wrong. It's kind of like college. We stay in dorm rooms with roommates and unless our parents work here, it's not very often we get to see them. The helicarrier only lands for refueling and resupplying. So for a week, we're let loose in DC. Sometimes it's more. Billie heads for the door, grabbing her phone and her jacket while I head for the bathroom.

"Let me know how the movie is" I say, opening the bathroom door. She gives me a thumbs up and leaves our dorm room.

 ***SCENE BREAK*  
NO POV**

Maria was waiting on the runway of the helicarrier, arms crossed over her chest. She was in black jeans, a black long sleeved shirt, and a tan vest. The vest had about multiple pockets. Inside one, was a very small tablet that had Natalee's file in it. She glanced at her watch and sighed. Running footsteps alerted her and she turned to see Natalee jogging towards her. She was in red skinny jeans, a Robin Hood t-shirt, a grey unzipped hoodie, and black converse. "I'm not late" Natalee said with a small laugh. Maria narrowed her eyes.

"By two minutes. Cutting it close, don't you think?" The brunette woman pulled her hair into a pony tail.

"I am keeping you on your toes. Spontaneous and crazy, remember?" Natalee smirked at her. Yes, she's done some pretty stupid stuff but she's always come out okay. Some stitches here, some bruises here but it's always part of a bigger plan. Whether it's getting Intel or tracking down an escaped convict. Maria was usually pleased with the results.

"Yes, little monster, I remember" Maria smiled softly at her. She didn't know a lot about Natalee's past but whatever they did to her has kept her alive these past couple years. "Come on, we'll grab lunch there"

"I really hope it's not hot dogs" Natalee muttered as they headed to get off the carrier. When Maria was assigned to track down the dangerous Russian assassin, she had chased her into a zoo and they got into a fight. She had tackled the girl into a hot dog cart, more or less on accident, and the girl bit her. Natalee was covered in hot dog juice and never really liked hot dogs after that. Maria laughed at her comment.

 ***SCENE BREAK***

Natasha yawned as she turned into the parking garage of the Triskelion. They had been driving for about three or four hours in Natasha's red Ford Expedition. Clint was looking out the window. His knee was bouncing in excitement and anticipation. After fourteen years, they finally know something about their daughter other than she was missing. Natasha sighed and her husband looked over. "What's up, Tash?" He asked, reaching over to take her hand.

"Why wouldn't Coulson tell us over the phone?" She asked. That question had been running through her mind for hours. She didn't _want_ to think of the worse possible scenarios but she couldn't help it. This mindset came with the job. Natasha released a slow breath out her nose as the car pulled into a parking spot.

"Natasha, whatever happens in there, we're here for each other, okay?" Clint had a firm, yet gentle grip on her hand. She smiled softly and gave a nod, pulling the key from the ignition. They got out of the large red vehicle and made their way towards the elevator.

 ***SCENE BREAK***

Natalee and Maria were standing by the tiger habitat. The young girl's eyes never left the striped cat as it wandered around its home. "You know, they really shouldn't be locked up in here" She said with a small sigh. She was leaning on the railing, a foot away from the glass.

"They're well taken care of, Natalee" Maria shrugged.

"They're locked up because they're dangerous. But they didn't do anything" Natalee said a little more bitterly than she had meant it to be. The thought of Maria needing to talk to her privately loomed over her head like a dark ominous cloud. Made her skittish and snappish.

"You sound like you speak from experience" The brunette woman tilted her head slightly. There were small strands of hair falling from her ponytail, framing her face. Natalee sighed and stood up completely.

"Not personally. A friend of mine disappeared because he was dangerous. Because he was _different_. Sure, he was nuts, I have no problem with saying he was crazy beyond belief but he didn't deserve to be taken away" Natalee narrowed her eyes. She stopped, took a breath, and her shoulders relaxed. "You said we had to talk about my file?" She asked, changing the subject. Natalee didn't like talking about where she came from or who she grew up with. And no one ever pushed her to.

Maria gave a nod. "Later" She said and they went to look at the lions. "Part of it is about where you came from"

"I already told you everything that was relevant. There are parts of my past I'd rather keep to myself" Natalee said, no hostility in her voice. She sighed again. "Is it bad?" She asked, her head turning to look at her S.O.

"Is what bad?" Maria asked.

"What you're going to tell me. If it wasn't bad, you wouldn't have taken me out to the zoo" Natalee stuck her hands in her pockets. They stopped outside the glass of the lion section. There was a little boy with a Black Widow action figure to the left of them. Natalee couldn't help but smile. Women in the media were always misrepresented. Either they got terrible merchandise or no merchandise at all.

"I haven't taken you out of S.H.I.E.L.D. for a couple months. Thought the zoo was a good idea. We can go somewhere else if you'd like" The S.H.I.E.L.D. agent said, nudging her with her shoulder.

"The zoo _was_ a good idea. I get to see where _you_ got your ass handed to you by a ten year old" Natalee smirked, her chin tilting up a bit. Maria rolled her eyes.

"I'm sorry, _who_ got caught by S.H.I.E.L.D.?" She raised an eyebrow.

"I only got caught because you _threw_ me into a hot dog cart!" Natalee laughed. "Hey, I wonder if the blood stain is still here"

"From when you _bit_ me?" The brunette narrowed her eyes. Natalee smiled cheekily and nodded. They went back down the lion and tiger hill path and stopped by the picnic pavilions. One of the support beams had a stain of faded red on it.

"Oh my god, it's still here" The grey-eyed girl snorted.

"Gee thanks, little monster. Now I get to relive my trauma" Maria rolled her eyes. "Come on, I'm getting hungry. Let's find something to eat" She wrapped an arm around Natalee's shoulders and they headed towards the food court.

 **A/N: Don't forget to review! :D**


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: OH MY GOD! FINALLY I FINISH THIS CHAPTER! I get distracted** _ **way**_ **too easily.**

Natalee and Maria were at the food court of the zoo. A smirk appeared on Natalee's face as the memory of the first time they were in this zoo ran through her head.

 ***FLASHBACK***

 _A ten year old girl with crazy curly auburn hair and braces was sprinting down the street. She was in a large dark blue coat with a red hoodie underneath, black pants, and black boots. The knees of her pants were ripped, the edges stained with blood. She was panting, her boots hitting the sidewalks with dull thuds. Government agents were after her. She sort of knew why. She was a criminal, according to the American government. A black SUV screeched to a halt in front of her. She slid on her heels to a stop and sprinted across the street, into a zoo._

 _"I got her" She heard a female voice say to the other agents. Footsteps were getting closer. She was small, barely four and a half feet tall. She took a sharp turn and jumped over a short brick wall._

 _ ***SCENE BREAK***_

 _Maria Hill had been chasing a fugitive from Russia for a couple of months. A few days earlier, she had discovered the assailant was actually a ten year old little girl. Natalee, AKA Red Archer. What kind of agency gives little kids assassin codenames? This girl must know what she's doing since it took her almost two months to even find out what state she was in._

 _The agent with Maria slammed on the breaks and the red headed girl slid to a stop. She glanced around quickly and ran off towards the zoo. If only this was easy. "I got her" She said as she jumped out of the van and chased after the girl. She was slightly faster and would catch up to her easily. Maybe she'd be able to make her dinner reservations. The girl, Natalee, suddenly split off. She jumped over a small brick wall and disappeared into the bushes. Great, who knows where those lead. Maria huffed angrily and jumped off the wall, over the bushes. She caught sight of the girl's auburn curls and pushed through the crowd._

 _The kid had disappeared into a dead end. Maybe the kid wasn't as smart as she thought. Maria stopped when she reached the dead end. No kid. There was a shift from her left and she looked over just as the girl swung down from a tree, kicking Maria in the side. The S.H.I.E.L.D. agent was kicked into a pole, making her nose bleed. The blood splattered onto the wooden beam. She looked up and the kid smirked at her. She_ _ **smirked**_ _at her. Maria lunged for her and Natalee jumped over her, running back into the crowd._

 _ **"Status, Hill"**_ _Coulson said in her comm._

 _"I...I lost her" Maria grumbled, standing up._

 _ **"You lost child?"**_ _He chuckled._

 _"Look, this kid knows what she's doing. I just got a mouth full of wood. Maybe you want to try and bring this kid in" Maria said. "She couldn't have gotten far"_

 _ ***END FLASHBACK***_

"Natalee" Maria waved her hand in front of her face.

"What?" Natalee looked at her. "Sorry, I spaced"

"Yeah I could tell" Maria laughed lightly. "I had something important to talk to you about" The brunette said.

Natalee nodded, bringing her soda closer to her to take a sip from the straw. "Yeah, I know. That's why you took me to the zoo. In case I totally flip out, I'll have to control myself because we're in a public place" Natalee smirked at her, crossing her arms over her chest. "Out with it" She said. Maria sighed and pulled a couple papers out from the inside of her jacket, folded in half. She set it on the table and slid it forward. The girl set her drink to the side and pulled them closer. "These are pages from my file" Natalee said, looking at the paper.

"We updated your file. Just read what it says" Maria sighed.

"Yeah, sure. Junior Agent Hill, Natalee. Date of birth, unknown. Last known address, S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier. Status, Active. No previous address-Maria, this is all the same" Natalee looked at her with an irritated look.

"Keep going" Her S.O. said, sitting back in her chair.

"Come on, just tell me what's different" Natalee's eyes narrowed. Her S.O. reached out a hand and pointed to the section at the bottom that said _Family_.

"There. Read that part" She said.

"Family...Mother: Natasha Alianovna Romanoff-Barton, alive. Father: Clinton Francis Barton, alive" She stopped and set the paper down, her arms crossing over her chest. "What the hell is this, Maria?" She asked, an eyebrow raising. Her tone was dark and quiet. Which, for Natalee, was more dangerous than her completely blowing up.

"Look, kid, I'm as surprised as you are. Coulson had some suspicions about where you came from because-"

"Because I'm Russian?" The fifteen year old raised an eyebrow, _very_ much like her mother. "And you wonder why it took me almost a year to stop calling you people _глупые американцы_ _?"_ Natalee tilted her head and glared at her. (Stupid Americans)

"Yes, Natalee, I'm aware of you calling everyone a stupid American" Maria sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. "Your fighting ability and your use of a bow resembled Agents Romanoff and Barton. They had a daughter that was kidnapped _fifteen_ years ago. Coulson brought it up but I had to look back through their files" The brunette agent said.

"I've been in S.H.I.E.L.D. for _three_ years, Maria. And this never occurred to anyone before then?!" Natalee kept her voice down but there was still rage dripping from every word.

"You barely had a name then. Three years ago, this random kid is a wanted criminal and the only thing anyone knows about her is that she's killed people"

"Well I want nothing to do with them" A knife was suddenly in Natalee's hand and she stabbed the papers into the table as she stood up. "I'll see you later" She said bitterly and left, pulling her hood over her hair. Maria sighed and ran a hand through her brown hair. Of course this couldn't have been easy. But nothing with Natalee was _ever_ easy.

 **A/N: Shhhhhhh...I know this is shorter than it usually is. Don't judge me. I saw Civil War with TeamPhoenix18 on opening night. It was awesome!**


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: Any thoughts or ideas you peoples have, feel free to send them to me via PM or review. Speaking of reviews, those make me giggly and motivated :D**

 **NATALEE POV**

I'm sitting on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. My grey hood is pulled over my curls and I have gold rimmed aviator sunglasses on. My earbuds are playing Team by Iggy Azalea. I've been sitting here for about two hours. Maria's probably called me a hundred times. There's a glass Coke bottle next to me and I'm watching the people walk around the reflecting pool. Footsteps approach me and stop.

"I got your text," Billie's soft, concerned voice says. "I tried to call you."

"Turned my phone off," I say, taking my earbuds out. She sits next to me.

"So your parents...?" She looks at me. "You know who they are. That's gotta be good, right?"

"My parents didn't want me, bird." I turn my head. "But now they want to meet me?" I scoff. Billie reaches over and takes my sunglasses from my face. She doesn't like talking to me when she can't see my face completely. I think it's strange but I haven't asked her about it yet. Must be a spy thing. Having the need to read people's expressions.

"Did Maria say you were given up?" she asks, her voice still quiet and calm. I take a drink from my Coke and look at my hands. "Then how do you know you were given up?"

"Because my parents are part of the Avengers. Do they expect me to believe I was kidnapped from the Avengers?" I laugh dryly. "My life was hell but I'm not going to meet the people that started me on this path."

"Well, they're probably not going to leave you alone until you meet them. So why don't you meet them? You can ask what happened, find out the truth, and then you can decide if you completely despise them." Billie shrugs and nudges me with her shoulder. I laugh lightly. "Hey! There it is! I didn't think you were going to smile." She smiles brightly at me.

"You're a dork, you know that, bird?" I raise an eyebrow. She smiles cheekily.

"You love me anyway," Billie says and takes my Coke bottle from me.

"I paid for that," I protest.

"And I appreciate it." She laughs, drinking from my Coke. "Hey, Nikki wants to go running later," my partner says.

I sigh and lean back to lay on the steps. "It'll help me keep my mind off of my superhero parents so I'm in," I say.

"You're going to have to face it eventually." Billie shrugs. I lean back against the stairs, my arms covering my eyes, and groan. It's loud and dramatic and makes Billie laugh. "You're a dork, you know that?" She raises an eyebrow at me.

"But you would be lost without me." I smile.

*SCENE BREAK*

Natasha and Clint were sitting in a room with a long table with the S.H.I.E.L.D. symbol on it. The fiery haired assassin was drumming her nails on the shiny table, her fist rested against her cheek. They had been waiting for about fifteen minutes. "This is ridiculous," she said to Clint in a hushed voice.

"Be patient, Tash," he said, gently rubbing her shoulder.

"We get a call about our daughter, who's been missing for fourteen years, and they have the audacity to make us wait?" Natasha said in almost a growl, sitting up more to look at him. "Fourteen years we've been kept in the dark. She just disappeared, Barton. Our daughter just vanished."

"And we've waited this long. We can wait twenty minutes." He kissed her cheek and took her hand in his. "Before you know it, our baby will be home."

"Our teenager will be home," Natasha corrected. "We've missed everything." She sighed, resting her head on his shoulder. The door slid open and they separated from each other. Coulson walked in with a smile and a file in his hand. "Hi Phil," Natasha said.

"You made good time," he commented and set the file on the table. "About Natalee..." he started, sitting down cattycorner to them.

"Did you find her?" Clint blurted out.

"Oh, we found her." He chuckled. "Five years ago."

"Five...? What?" Natasha stammered. "What do you mean you found her five years ago?"

"Well, we didn't know. She was kind of on a wanted list," Coulson sighed.

"A wanted list? She would have been ten." Clint snorted in disbelief. "How did a ten year old get on a wanted list?"

"It seems like she takes after her parents." He shrugged and pushed the file forward. "We caught her. She came from Russia. Had the accent and everything. Then we gave her a choice: she could work for us under the junior program of S.H.I.E.L.D. to redeem herself, or we would send her to a juvenile detention facility for the criminally insane and dangerous," he said. Clint opened the file.

"Red Archer?" Natasha pulled it closer to her. "She was trained as an assassin?"

"We don't know the whole story, except that there was an organization in Russia that created child assassins. She won't tell us anything else," Coulson said. "But she's very good at what she does"

"And you let her continue to kill people?" Clint asked.

"Natalee's not someone you really want to upset. Reminds me of someone." The agent cast a sidelong glance at Natasha. "We suspected a similarity to both of you and acquired some of her blood after a recent mission had some complications. A DNA test confirmed it. This is your daughter."

"Why does this say Natalee Hill?" Natasha asked.

"Natalee came to America with her code name and her first name. She didn't know anything else about herself," Coulson explained. "Hill was signed as her supervising officer and she needed a last name, so Natalee took hers."

"Does she know yet?" the blonde man asked, flipping through mission reports and photos from her file.

"Hill told her earlier today. That's actually why it took me a while to come here," he said. "Natalee wasn't very...happy. She took off, and Agent Hill doesn't really know where she went. We think she's with her partner, Billie, but she's not answering her phone so we're not sure."

"Does she do that a lot?" Clint asked.

"Her partner can handle it," he assured them.

"Who's this Billie guy?" the archer asked, feeling an instinctually paternal overprotectiveness creeping in.

"It's a girl, Barton," Natasha whispered, pointing to a section of a page. "It's short for Willow"

"Oh. Good," he said with a nod. "When do you think she'll be back?" he asked.

"We're not sure. She'll need some time to process everything. It's best not to try and push her."

 ***SCENE BREAK***  
 **NATALEE POV**

I'm in a red tank top, black shorts, and red Nike shoes while Billie's wearing a light blue t-shirt, black shorts, and black running shoes. We had run back to the Helicarrier to change. "I thought Nikki was supposed to be running with us," I say, pulling my knee to my chest. My hair is down while Billie's is up in a high ponytail.

"She'll be here. Why don't you put your hair up?" Billie asks.

"I don't know. Doesn't feel natural." I say. "Did you text Nikki? Does she know we're out here?"

"Yeah, I told her," she responds. "Have you thought about what you're going to do about your parents?"

"It's all I can think about. Part of me wants to know what happened, and the other part doesn't really care." I shrug. There's running footsteps and we look over as Nikki approaches.

"Hey, I heard about your parents," Nikki says with a smile.

My shoulders drop. "How the hell did you hear about that?" I hiss.

My friend smirks. "A little birdie told me." Without looking, I punch Billie in the shoulder.

"Ow! What the hell?!" Billie rubs the spot I punched. "How do you know it was me?!"

"One, you're the only person I told. And two, I call you Bird," I say, glaring at her.

"Okay, so I told Nikki," Billie admitted. "She was going to find out eventually and I was only telling her so she would be prepared when Natalee told her." Billie glares at Nikki, her hand still on her shoulder.

"Hey, man, I'm curious." Nikki shrugs and looks at me. "So?"

"So what?" I raise an eyebrow.

"What are you going to do about it?" She puts her hands on her hips.

"What am I supposed to do about it?" I cross my arms over my chest.

"Nat, they're your parents. I know you think it's their fault, but you need to hear their side. You were just a baby when it happened, right?" Nikki asks, cocking her head.

"If it means that much to you two that I go and I meet my parents, then fine. I'll tell Maria, and I'll meet them," I sigh in defeat. Billie and Nikki high five.

"Yes! Okay, now we can start running," Billie says.

"Try to keep up!" Nikki laughs and takes off.

"What the hell?! Nikki!" Billie takes off after her and I laugh, breaking into a sprint after them. Nikki is really fast. She likes to mess with us about it whenever we go running. Now that I think about it, I don't know why we accept her offers. Nikki's very quickly pulling ahead, leaving just her laughter behind.

 **A/N: YAY! I DID IT! NEW CHAPTER! THANKS STEPHIE FOR BEING MY BETA READER AND EDITING STUFF :D**


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: Sorry, this is a short one. I wanted to space it a certain way.**

 **NATALEE POV**

I'm sitting on my bed while Billie's in the shower. Nikki's mom called her and she had to leave. My phone is sitting in my hands. I bite my lip and sigh. My thumb's hovering over Maria's number. My friends are right; they're not going to leave me alone. And I guess I'm curious. My hand pushes my curls out of my face and my thumb presses down. I look at my toes while I wait for the line to ring. One leg is pulled under me while the other, the foot I'm looking at, is hanging off the bed. I need to redo my nails. There's still evidence of red paint on my toenails.

"Natalee?" Maria's voice makes me flinch. I didn't hear the click.

"Yeah?" I sigh. "I've been thinking..."

"About your parents?" Her voice is calm and soft.

"If it's that important, I'll meet them," I concede, looking at the bathroom door as I hear the water shut off. "Not today, though. There's been enough excitement today. I'll see about tomorrow."

"Whatever you're comfortable with, little monster," Maria says. "Should I let them know?"

"Sure. I'll talk to you later." I hang up, tossing my phone next to me. The door opens and Billie walks out in a S.H.I.E.L.D. t-shirt and shorts.

"Hey." She smiles at me. "Were you talking to Maria?"

"Yeah. I'm thinking...tomorrow sounds like a good day to meet my parents," I say, looking up at her with a small smile. Billie smiled back, though hers is bigger and brighter. "Don't look at me like that," I say.

"I'm excited, red. Why aren't you?" She puts her hands on her hips, raising an eyebrow.

I sigh, laying back on my bed. "For as long as I can remember, I was told my parents abandoned me. That they didn't want me. But I knew what the Black Widow was. I looked up to her. I wanted to be her. Now I find out I was kidnapped and my childhood hero is my mother? My life is a lie," I say, looking at the ceiling.

"You knew the Black Widow?" Billie approaches my bed and I turn my head to look at her.

"Not personally. I didn't know her real name. But there were stories." I sigh and stretch my arms over my head. "Now she's this real person, and I'm related to her."

"I guess that's a lot to think about." My partner grabs my left arm to look at my watch, checking the time. "I'm going to head down and get something to eat. Want to come?" she asks.

"Maybe later," I reply. She smiles a little and flicks my nose as she turns to leave. The door opens and closes and she's gone. I shift to get more comfortable in my bed and I yawn. A nap doesn't sound so bad.

 _I was looking through the eyes of something else. First person dreams are always the worst. My hands reach out. They're small and chubby. Am I a baby? There's soft humming coming from the dimly lit room I'm in. Above me seems to be the stars. No, that's impossible. I'm in a room. I guess its one of those mobile things. Yeah, that must be it. The humming changes to a soft, sweet voice singing. It's a woman's voice. It's pretty._

 _Trust in me_  
 _Just in me_  
 _Shut your eyes_  
 _Trust in me_

 _The voice is smooth and beautiful. My hands are moving slower. They're opening and closing. A much larger, slimmer hand with nails painted red comes towards me and I grab onto their fingers._

 _You can sleep_  
 _Safe and sound_  
 _Knowing I_  
 _Am around_

 _My eyelids are drooping. I'm struggling to stay awake. It's like a siren's song that drags pirates to their death...but it's so pretty._

 _Slip into silent slumber_  
 _Sail on a silver mist_  
 _Slowly and surely_  
 _Your senses_  
 _Will cease to resist_

 _Just relax_  
 _Be at rest_  
 _Like a bird_  
 _In a nest_

 _Trust in me_  
 _Just in me_  
 _Shut your eyes_  
 _And trust in me_

 _The humming comes back and my eyes slowly close, leaving me in darkness. But I am lucid enough to hear the last of the song._

 _Trust in me_  
 _Just in me_  
 _Shut your eyes_  
 _And trust in me_

I grunt as I slip out of my bed and fall roughly onto the floor. My feet are tangled in the blankets, trapped on my bed. I hear a snort of laughter, and I tilt my head back to look at my upside down roommate. There's a throbbing pain in my face. I probably hit it on my bedside table.

"What the hell are you doing?" Billie laughs. I shift to sit up and untangle my feet from my blankets.

"I was dreaming, bird," I say, climbing back into my bed.

"Was it a good dream? You didn't look angry like you normally do." She props herself up on her elbows. I can see her Chewbacca shirt. Wait a minute, like I normally do?

"What do you mean like I normally do? Do you watch me sleep?" I narrow my eyes at her but there's a smirk on my face.

"You normally fall asleep first and wake me up because you're trying to fight ninjas in your sleep." Billie matches my look. I laugh and flop back on my pillows.

"Why ninjas?" I ask. I hear the sound of her laying back down.

"I don't know, red, I'm tired," she says with a sigh.

"What time is it?"

"Late enough that you shouldn't be attacking your bed."

I scoff. "I wasn't attacking my bed, Billie."

"Whatever dude." She snorts. "I'm going to sleep."

"Goodnight, Birdie." I smile.

"Night, you freaky Russian," Billie laughs.

 **A/N: The song Natalee hears is Trust In Me from the Jungle Book 2016. Scarlett Johansson sings it and it's beautiful. I had to add it because I'm a dork :)**  
 **Thank you, Stephie, for revising :D**


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: *dinosaur screech***

Natalee was playing with the zipper of her grey hoodie, nibbling on her lip, waiting for Nikki. Billie grabbed her arm and she looked over. "Stop," was all the blonde said.

"I'm nervous," Natalee mumbled.

"Yeah, but I've heard enough of Darth Vader's theme song on your zipper." Billie rolled her eyes. The door to Nikki's dorm room opened and she stepped out, her black sneakers squeaking against the floor.

"You excited?" the brunette asked with a smile.

"I feel like I'm going to throw up." Natalee narrowed her eyes and pulled her hood over her head.

"I don't see how. You haven't eaten anything since yesterday." Billie shrugged and they started heading towards the room Maria sent to Natalee. "Speaking of eating, are you sure you don't want to grab a banana or something?" she asked.

"I'm sure. Let's just get this over with so I can forget this whole thing," the curly-haired assassin said, looking at her watch. She turned it around so the screen was on the inside of her wrist. She looked at Billie. "Why are you suddenly taller?" she asked.

"Hidden wedge sneakers," Billie replied, looking down at the blue sneakers on her feet. "Cute, right?"

"She's an assassin, Billie. She doesn't do cute," Nikki said with a laugh. Natalee turned her head to glare at her. "Don't try to tell me it's not true." The brunette smirked at her.

"I can look cute if I want to." Natalee's tone was dark and dangerous. "I just choose to be able to crush my opponents' throats," she said. Nikki looked at Billie.

"No wonder she hasn't had a date yet," Billie said and Nikki started laughing.

"You guys aren't helping," Natalee said as they turned the corner. The two shrugged and entered a stairwell. The conference rooms were on the floor above theirs.

"What room are we going to?" the blonde girl asked.

"Room four," the archer mumbled. "I don't know if I'm ready for this."

"Hey, it's going to be fine," Nikki assured her with a small smile. "We'll stay with you if you want."

"No way are you leaving me in there." Natalee glared at them.

"Only if you want us there, red," Billie said softly, smiling.

 ***SCENE BREAK***  
 **Meanwhile...**

Natasha sighed and rolled her head back, trying to crack her neck. Clint was pacing back and forth behind her. "Barton, just sit down. You're making me dizzy." She was sitting with the chair sideways so she could look at her husband.

"What if she doesn't like us, Tash?" the blonde archer asked, stopping briefly to look at her. He ran a hand through his hair and continued pacing.

"She seems to be in a pretty good place right now. Maria takes care of her and she has S.H.I.E.L.D.," she said. "If she doesn't want anything to do with us, we have to respect that."

"I was really looking for a more optimistic response," he mumbled.

"Fine." Natasha sighed. "I'm sure she'll love us." She flashed him a smile.

"I can't be the only one thinking about this."

"I am, too. But I'm not going to get my hopes up," the fiery-haired assassin said and looked down at the table. She drummed her nails against the reflective surface. Clint sat in the chair next to her and took her hand. His elbows rested on his knees and he brought her hand close to him so he could kiss her knuckles. "Our daughter's alive," she whispered. The door opened and they both looked up, but it was just Maria.

"Natalee's on her way," the agent said, and set a file on the table. "She'll be here in a couple minutes."

 ***SCENE BREAK***

Conference room number four was about twenty feet ahead of them. Natalee stopped. "I can't do this," she said.

"You've come too far for this not to happen," Billie said as she grabbed her hand. Natalee planted her feet, digging her heels into the floor. But her blonde friend was stronger than she thought she'd be and her shoes had no traction. Billie easily dragged her closer to the door.

"Otva`li, mu`dak, b`lyad!" Natalee swore in Russian ("Fuck off, you asshole, fuck!"). Nikki grabbed her other hand and helped Billie drag the angry Russian girl towards the conferance room.

 ***SCENE BREAK***

The adults in the room looked up when there was angry Russian shouting from outside the door. Natasha smirked. She understood every word. It was kind of amusing. The door opened and Natasha and Clint stood up. Billie and Nikki dragged Natalee into the room and closed the door with Nikki stopping to lean against it, blocking Natalee's escape route. Maria looked at Billie, silenting asking what was going on.

"Don't ask," Billie chuckled and sat down in one of the chairs. Clint leaned closer to Natasha.

"Who are they?" he whispered.

"Billie Morse and Nikki Lewis," Natasha whispered back, narrowing her eyes.

"Just because you whisper doesn't mean I can't hear you," she said. Natasha looked at him and smirked.

"Okay...uh, Natalee, this is Natasha Romanoff and Clint Barton," Maria said.

"Yeah, I kind of figured." Natalee looked at her S.O. There wasn't anger or aggression in her eyes.

Natasha gasped. "I recognize you," she said.

"What? From where? We've never met before," Natalee said, giving her a strange look.

"No, we've met. Four years ago I was walking down the street and this little redheaded girl with braces crashed into me," Natasha said. The young assassin's grey eyes widened and her hands dropped to her sides. "She dropped this." Natasha pulled a necklace from under her shirt. It was a thin gold chain with a little red heart on it. She unlatched it from her neck and held it out to her.

"Oh my god," Natalee whispered as she took the necklace. There were words inscribed into the little heart. 'Remember who's under the mask.' "I thought I lost this," she said, her eyebrows furrowing. "Why did you keep this?" Natalee looked up at Natasha.

"In case I ever ran into that girl again," Natasha said. "I can't believe I didn't see it."

"Well, I was in kind of a hurry," Natalee said and looked at Maria. "You know, running from S.H.I.E.L.D." She smirked and Maria rolled her eyes. "My friend gave me this before I left Russia. Before he, uh, died. I was so heartbroken when I found out this was missing." Natalee rubbed her thumb over the heart. "Thanks for keeping this, I guess." She shrugged.

"I wasn't going to leave it there." Natasha brushed her short red hair from her face. Natalee nibbled on her lip and clipped the necklace around her neck, tucking it in under her shirt.

"So..." she sighed, looking at Natasha and Clint. "What happened to me?"

"You had just turned one. We were in an apartment in New York," Clint recalled.

 ***FLASHBACK***

 _Natasha was leaning against the crib, watching her daughter's chest rise and fall. She brushed her hair away from her face, not that there was a lot of it. There was some curl to what little there was, though. "Sweetdreams, baby girl," she whispered and snuck out of the room._

 _Clint looked up when he heard soft footsteps and smiled when Natasha sat on the couch next to him._

 _"She asleep?" he asked. Natasha closed her eyes and rested her head against his shoulder._

 _"Yep," she sighed. The archer shifted so he could wrap an arm around her. "You know that song from the Disney movie about the boy who's raised by the bear and the panther?"_

 _"You mean the Jungle Book?" He chuckled._

 _"Yeah, well the song that snake sings put Natalee right out." Natasha smiled and brought her feet up so she was curled into his side._

 _"Huh. I guess that's useful information." Clint kissed her head. Suddenly, an explosion from the first floor made the ground shake._

 _"Get the baby!" Clint shouted and grabbed a gun from under the coffee table. He headed for the front door of the apartment while Natasha ran for the nursery._

 _"Hey, sweetie," she cooed, picking up the crying infant. "Shh, shh. Mama's right here," Natasha whispered, gently cradling her against her chest. "It's alright." The baby's cries quieted to small whimpers._

 _"Clint?" She called when it had suspiciously gotten quiet. Natasha grabbed a gun from underneath the crib. "Shh, baby girl, shh," she whispered when Natalee started fussing. She kissed the baby's head and glanced out the doorway. The door was left open and there was gun fire. Natasha nibbled her lip and placed Natalee in her crib. She kissed her forehead. "Mama loves you, baby girl," she whispered and ran out of the room to help the father of her child._

 _Clint was standing behind a corner, shooting at someone. Natasha stopped next to him. "There's two of them," he said quickly. "Man and woman. Both armed. Where's Natalee?"_

 _"In her crib," Natasha said, shoving Clint aside when the woman suddenly rounded the corner. The man wasn't far behind her and attacked Clint. They threw each other against the wall and tried to land punches, a few hitting them across the jaw or in the stomach. Natasha was thrown aside, hitting the railing of the stairs, and the woman ran up to the apartment. "She's going after Natalee!" she yelled to Clint and ran after her._

 _Natasha ran into the apartment, stopping when it was unusually quiet. Behind the door, the blonde woman crept out with a baton in her hand. She jumped on Natasha's back, holding the baton against her throat. The red head slammed the woman against the wall and flipped her off of her, shattering the coffee table. A gunshot suddenly went off, hitting Natasha in the shoulder. She fell to her side and the man walked up. He shot her in the leg and the blonde woman ran down the hall. The man kneeled down and whispered something to her but she missed it._

 _"Let's go," the woman said over the baby's wails._

 _"Natalee..." Natasha managed before the world went black._

 _ ***SCENE BREAK***_

 _Natasha groaned as she woke up. She gasped. Natalee! "Clint?" she called, pushing herself up. "Clint?" she called again, louder. No answer. Natasha pulled herself to her feet, crying out at the pain in her leg. She limped towards the broken apartment door. "Clint," she called again. There was a groan from the bottom of the stairs. She let out a relieved breath and managed to get down the stairs. "Are you okay?" she asked, kneeling next to him._

 _"What happened?" Clint accepted the help to stand. He had a knife in his side and a bruise on his forehead._

 _"They got Natalee," Natasha whispered and a tear fell down her face._

 ***END FLASHBACK***

"So I was kidnapped." Natalee crossed her arms over her chest.

"We looked for you, Natalee. They were just...gone. There wasn't a ransom note. No money demand. They took you and they disappeared," Natasha said.

"But we're here for you know, if you want." Clint smiled. Natalee glanced down at her shoes.

"Yeah, this is just...it's a lot to take in. And I've got some stuff going on," she said with a shrug. "We should get going," she said to Billie and Nikki. The blonde girl stood up. "I'll see you later, 'Ria." Natalee gave a nod to Maria and the three left.


	10. Chapter 10

**NATALEE POV**

I'm standing in the gym of the Helicarrier. Well, the gym for the junior program. I'm watching Billie swing her batons around when I notice a blonde boy looking at me. I recognize him as Don Rogers, Captain America's sixteen year old son.

We don't really get along. When I first came to S.H.I.E.L.D., I was just a random ten year-old Russian assassin, and he was Captain America's son. That's a pretty big reputation...and a reputation I totally ruined. I don't like when people are prejudiced against girls because of their age or size. The junior agents were randomly paired to spar and I got the Boy Scout. Of course he said something insulting. I can't really remember what it was, but it was something along the lines of having to fight a girl and wanting a real challenge. So I mopped the floor with him and we've hated each other ever since. "What do you want?" he snaps at me. Billie stops and sighs. She knows where this is heading.

"Hey, you started staring at me, Donald," I growl at him.

"Yeah, but staring at what? I'm not sure." He smirks. My fists clench.

"You got a big bark, puppy dog. Can your bite back you up this time?" I put my hands on my hips. "We are in a gym after all." I tip my chin up. "Or are you scared?" I smirk. The boys with him chuckle.

"You're on." Don glares at me.

"Oh, boy." Billie facepalms and I see her pulling out her phone, probably to text Nikki. I walk onto the mats and crack my knuckles.

"Let's do this quickly," he grumbles.

"Oh, trust me, Rogers, it will be," I say smugly. One of the boys walks over.

"Ready...set...go," he says. Don throws a punch. I bend backwards to dodge it, my hands touching the mat behind me. I flip over, kicking him in the jaw, and land on my feet. He growls and swings his leg. It hits me in the stomach and I slide to the side on my feet. He tries to throw another punch and I dodge to the side. With his arm extended, his side is exposed and I land a series of punches to his ribs and his lower back. As I stand up, now behind him, I elbow him in the base of his neck. His arm falls to his side.

"What the hell did you do?!" Don exclaims. "I can't move my arm!"

"Relax, Donald, it wears off. Temporary paralysis." I smirk. He snarls and punches me with his other hand, catching me in the jaw. I lose my balance and roll to my knees. A growl rises in my throat. I run at him and jump, landing on his shoulders. I bend backwards and flip him. He hits the mats with a loud thud and I punch him in the nose. My hand is holding his movable wrist to the mat and I have my knee pressed to his chest. "You. Lose," I growl and stand up, walking back over to Billie.

"You think you could teach me that weird temporary paralysis move you do?" Billie asks. I give her a strange look.

"Why do you want to learn that?" I had learned how to temporarily paralyze different sections of someone's body by hitting the nerves the correct way. I normally hit the sides or back with fast rapid punches, resulting in the loss of movement in their arm or leg.

"I dunno. It's a cool move." She shrugs. "So will you teach me?" Billie smiles. I stare at her for a moment through narrowed eyes.

"Yeah, alright, fine." I shrug. My watch goes off and Ria's name pops up. I sigh. "But I have to go. We'll continue this later," I tell her.

"Solo mission?" she asks, walking over to my bag and picking it up.

"Not sure. Maria's calling me in." I shrug and take the bag from her. "Later, bird."

"Bye, red!" she calls after me as I leave.

"Asshole!" Don shouts, and I smirk.

 ***SCENE BREAK***

Maria and Marlo are in the debriefing room when I walk in. "What are you doing here, JD?" I ask.

"I'm the Junior Director. I'm doing my job," she responds, handing me a file. "And yours just got a little harder." She laughs. I groan and open the file.

"What is it this time?" I ask, looking at Maria.

"I'm not going with you, little monster. They are." She gestures behind me. I look over my shoulder and groan. Natasha and Clint.

"Are you kidding me?" I glare at her.

"Its fine, Natalee. It wasn't even their idea."

"Oh, so it was yours," I scoff and roll my eyes. I step closer to my S.O. and bring my voice down so only she could hear me. "I appreciate your concern about me having a relationship with my parents, but you need to stop," I say in a hushed voice.

"I have somewhere to be and you're not getting out of it," Maria whispers back with a smug smile. I huff out my nose and look at them.

"Fine, but if they get in my way I'm going rogue," I say quietly. Ria squeezes my shoulder. It's like her way of saying she loves me. I look at Marlo. "I hate you," I say, and flash a smile.

"I figured as much." She smiles back and we fist bump. "Don't wear your suit, Nat. You need to blend in." I glare at her and then turn to look at Natasha and Clint.

"I have to stop at my dorm and grab some stuff, but that should only take a minute so I'll meet you back here," I inform them and leave the room without giving them a chance to answer. To be honest, I didn't really care. I was getting my shit and they were going to have to deal with it.

 ***SCENE BREAK***

The door opens and I head straight for the closet, where my mission things are. Bird and I each have three suits; our normal suits, winter camouflage, and a spare suit. I change into black skinny jeans and a red t-shirt before pulling out my weapons. I stash a knife in each of my boots and clip my gun holster around my thigh. On my way back out, I grab my reversible leather jacket. One side's black while the other's red. I guess red and black are kind of my colors.

 ***SCENE BREAK***

I enter the debriefing room again. Marlo and Maria aren't here, leaving me alone with my parents. Well, this is fantastic. "We doing this or what?" I ask, entering mission information in my phone. It sends the information to my watch, which is easier to look at and get information about the target. Natasha hands me a comm. I guess I kind of have to be able to hear these people.

"Let's go," Natasha says.

 ***SCENE BREAK***

I'm sitting on a roof. I'm not entirely sure where they went. I was told to stay put and I'm kind of pissed about it. "What's your plan here exactly?" I ask into the comm. "Are you flushing him out and sending him my way or did I miss something?"

"Just stay where you are, Natalee," Clint says.

"And do what? Right now I'm doing a whole lot of nothing and you're keeping me in the dark," I hiss angrily.

"Patience," Natasha suggests. I scoff and roll my eyes.

"You do understand that I am an assassin and this is my job, right? I don't need you guys to coddle me."

"Natalee, you're our daughter," Clint replies. "This is going to take some time to get used to. Last time we saw you, you couldn't hold your head up by yourself."

"So why ask to replace Maria on this mission? At least she let me do my job." I glare at the alley below me.

"We don't know how you work. Right now, we're trying to get to know you," Natasha says.

"I'm close to going rogue and doing this by myself," I mumble. There's a grunt from their end. I think its Clint. I hear a gunshot from across the street and a figure runs out.

"Target's on the move," he says in a strained voice.

"Finally," I whisper and stand up. I take a few steps back and wait for the guy to run across the street. He enters the alley below me and I run towards the ledge, jumping down. He hears me and turns, grabbing me by the front of my shirt. I'm thrown aside and I roll back to my feet.

"Oh this is going to be fun," I say to myself and charge him.

He throws a punch and I slide on my hip, between his legs. I knock his leg out from under him. He rolls to the side and I'm on my feet. I run at him, jumping off the wall to land on his shoulders. He tries to hit me against the wall but I stay on. As he turns, facing the wall, I bend backwards to flip him. The hat that he's wearing flies off, landing on the ground a few feet away. He has a gun in his hand as I land in a half-kneel, my own gun aimed at him.

 ***3RD PERSON POV***

It was a teenage boy. Maybe around seventeen. Red hair, green eyes. Scar across the bridge of his nose. Natalee's grey eyes widened and she lowered her gun. "Natalee?" he gasped, his weapon dropping to his side. Natalee glanced over her shoulder and switched her comm off as she stood up.

"Listen, I'm not going to bring you in. When I say so, throw me against the wall so I fall into that pile of boxes, okay?" Natalee instructed, approaching him.

"What? Why?" The boy gave her a weird look.

"I won't bring you in, but the people that are with me will," she explained quickly. "You want to get locked behind bars or do you want to run?"

"What, and leave you with these people? No way in hell, Natalee," the redheaded boy said.

"I work for these people. When I say when, throw me against the wall so I land in the boxes. They'll be more concerned about me than catching you," Natalee said. The boy's green eyes narrowed and he nodded. "You need to lay low for a while. Just until you're not a threat anymore, okay? Does your watch still work?"

"Yeah, you can still contact me," he said in a hushed voice and grabbed her by the front of her shirt. "Say when," she said and Natalee had to stand on her toes. There were running footsteps coming from behind them.

"Now," Natalee whispered. The boy grunted as he lifted Natalee off the ground and threw her. She was small compared to him, and he was pretty well built. Natasha and Clint ran around the corner as Natalee hit the wall. The boy took off and disappeared down the other street.

"Natalee!" Clint ran to help the girl. Natasha was looking down the alley.

"Tasha," he said, and she looked over her shoulder. "She's bleeding." There was a gash on her knee. The redheaded woman turned and knelt next to Natalee.

"What are you doing?" Natalee said with strain in her voice. "He's getting away."

"We'll get him eventually," Natasha reassured her. "Right now, you're hurt and we need to focus on that."

"The car's not far," Clint said and helped Natalee stand.

"I can walk," she half-growled at them. Natasha went ahead to start the car up. The curly-haired assassin glanced over her shoulder and smirked.

 **A/N: Finished this chapter at like 3 in the morning. Feel free to ask questions in Ask the Red Archer Characters review section. And don't forget to review! :D**


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N: For those who don't know *looks at my beta reader* S.O. means Supervising Officer**

Natalee was sitting in an infirmary bed. The door opened and she looked up. Billie was standing in the doorway with her arms crossed over her chest and an eyebrow raised.

"Hi, birdie."

The dark red-haired girl smiled. The look on her friend's face was anything but happy.

"Don't. I'm mad at you," Billie grumbled as she entered the room and dragged a chair over to sit next to the bed.

Natalee scoffed. "Why are you mad at me?" Billie propped her feet up on the bed.

"It's like every mission you go on sends you to the infirmary," Billie said, narrowing her eyes at her partner. Her arms were crossed over her chest. Natalee _did_ end up in the infirmary more often than she should, but never on her own though. She'd come back from a mission and others would notice injuries on her.

"I didn't want to come here! I just got thrown into a dumpster and my parents may have freaked out a little," Natalee said and leaned towards her. She brought her voice down. "I'll let you in on something here. Something that you are not allowed to repeat to anyone," she whispered, and the blonde girl narrowed her eyes. "I did it on purpose." She leaned back against her pillows.

"Got thrown into a dumpster on purpose?" Billie raised an eyebrow.

"Sort of. I kind of knew the guy we were going after, he's my old partner. From back when I was in Russia," the young archer explained. "He's just doing what I did before S.H.I.E.L.D. caught me."

"So how long before S.H.I.E.L.D. catches him?" Billie asked. "It took Maria two months to track you down."

"They're not going to. I told him he needed to disappear. If he gets into trouble, he'll call me," the curly-haired girl said. "The thing about the Shadows, we're very good at disappearing," she mumbled, sitting up more.

"The Shadows?" Her partner snorted. "What's the Shadows?" She dropped her feet to the floor and leaned forward, leaning on her arms against the bed. Natalee sighed.

"Okay, I'm going to tell you about me. About where I came from. But you can't tell anyone."

Billie shrugged and she continued. "I had this...this team. We were like a family. We were called the Red Shadows, and we worked under the Renegade." She paused and tilted her head. "You know Hydra?"

"Yeah, it's been a problem with S.H.I.E.L.D. for a while," the blonde answered.

"Well, the Renegade is like the evil love child of Hydra and the Red Room, an assassin organization in Russia." Natalee stopped and ran the tip of her tongue over her bottom lip. "One of the older kids was supposed to go through this program. They would inject him with a serum. It was extremely experimental, and he ended up dying. Our team leader, she knew it was going to happen so she got all of us out. By the time we escaped, there were only eleven out of the eighteen. Three dead. Four missing."

"That's got to be hard. Especially for a ten year-old." Billie reached across the bed and took her hand. She looked at the white Yin ring she had on her middle finger.

"I was actually supposed to be sent to America with the target I let go. We got separated and I didn't hear from him. I guess it was for the best, though. If we were to try and find each other, the Renegade could track us down."

"So you're away from your family." She rubbed her thumb over Natalee's hand.

"Well you're my family, too." Natalee smiled at her. She sighed and let go of Billie's hand to brush curls from her face. "I'm tired of sitting here. Let's see if there's any pudding left in the cafeteria." She slid off the bed, stopping when her injured leg hit the ground.

"I don't think that's a smart idea," Billie cautioned with a sigh as she stood up. "Did the doctor give you the all clear?"

"Doctors don't know shit. They're just glorified nurses," Natalee muttered and went out into the hall. "Are you going to continue lecturing me or do you want pudding?" she asked.

"What if I want to do both?" the blonde asked as they headed for the cafeteria.

"Then I'm going to ignore you and eat my pudding," her friend said and pulled out her phone. "I'm letting Maria know so she doesn't think I've gone rogue again."

"Maria doesn't even know you were in the infirmary," Billie stated while the red head's thumbs quickly texted her S.O.

"But I don't have Natasha or Clint's numbers in my phone," Natalee said like it was a dumb question and pressed send.

 ***SCENE BREAK***

Natasha and Clint were heading to the infirmary room that Natalee was in when Natasha got a text. She slowed, looking down at her phone. "Natalee left," she huffed with an irritated sigh.

"What do you mean she left?" Her husband gave her a strange look.

"I mean she's not in the room anymore. Maria said Natalee texted her. She and her partner, Billie, are going...to get pudding? Is that supposed to mean something?" Natasha looked up with a confused look on her face.

"So they're in the cafeteria?"

"If _going to get pudding_ isn't a euphemism for something, I guess they are." The redhead shrugged and they headed towards the cafeteria in the Junior wing. Clint's phone buzzed and he stopped.

"Fury needs me for something. Go find Natalee, this might take a while," he said and kissed her cheek before he walked away. Natasha watched him go for a moment. She sighed and went in the opposite direction to find her daughter.

 ***SCENE BREAK***

I'm sitting on one of the tables with my feet on the chair. I'm eating pudding with my ear buds in, listening to Me Too by Meghan Trainor. It's a good song. I'm looking at my cup of pudding, moving around my tiny spoon to swirl it so it's not all stuck to the sides. I take a scoop and pop it in my mouth. Someone suddenly hits the table I'm sitting on and I look over. Billie and her brother are having an argument. Seems serious. I can't hear them because of the surprisingly catchy song playing from my phone but they look angry and are throwing their hands around wildly. I pause my tunes and all I hear from my partner is, "No, okay, you can eat salsa at room temperature or cold but you cannot heat that shit up!"

They're arguing over salsa. I set my pudding cup down and pull my legs up onto the table so I'm sitting Indian style. "Are you two seriously having a debate over whether or not you can heat salsa?" I ask incredulously.

"This sick bastard always has to have his own separate little cup of salsa so he can heat it in the microwave, I mean who does that?!" Billie exclaims, throwing a glare at her brother.

"You put gummy bears in your pudding," I deadpan, picking my own pudding cup back up. A flash of red hair catches my eye and I see Natasha. "Why can I never just eat my pudding in peace?" I mumble to myself. Billie gives me a weird look.

"What are you talking about?" She asks and spots my mother walking up. "Oh," she says with an understanding nod.

 **NO POV**

Natasha glanced briefly at the two other teenagers before addressing Natalee. "Maria said you'd be here."

"Well Natalee didn't have either of your numbers in her phone so she couldn't really tell you we were leaving. Maria was the closest we could get," Billie said with a shrug.

"Oh yeah, Natalee, I heard you were in the infirmary again," L.J. said with a smirk.

"Keep talking and you'll be next," Natalee warned and popped the spoonful of pudding back in her mouth. She noticed someone was missing and pulled it back out. "Where's the other one?" she asked, licking the pudding from the corner of her mouth.

"You mean Clint?" Natasha raised an eyebrow.

"Hey, Natalee does that too!" L.J. said with a laugh. "Now we know where you get that from." The girl glared at him. Billie, not looking at her brother, punched him in the chest. "Ow! What the hell?!" He narrowed his eyes at her.

"He was called in for something," the woman responded. "I was thinking maybe you and I can go down to the shooting range. Having both of us asking you questions is probably intimidating." She pushed her short red curls from her face. Billie sighed and buried her face in her hands.

Natalee narrowed her eyes at the woman. "If you're implying I'm intimidated-"

"I'm not. I'm not easily intimidated but if I was in your position, having people ambush me with questions probably wouldn't make me super chatty," Natasha said, her voice calm and smooth. The young archer's eyebrow twitched as thoughts quickly ran through her head.

"So the shooting range?" She handed Billie her pudding cup and slid off the table, the hint of a smirk curling her lips.

 **A/N: YAY! Chapter 11! Reviews are appreciated! Feel free to send me ideas or what you'd like to see character wise :)**


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N: I know you're all expecting a conversation between Natalee and her mother but honestly I've been stuck on that specific scene for so long, I'm coming up dry. There will be more interaction between Natalee and her parents, I promise. Also I may have broken a bone in my hand so updates will be a bit slower. Happy late holidays and please review!**

Billie was in her dorm room, laptop on her lap. While she _SHOULD_ be finishing her History homework, Star wars fanfiction was just so much more interesting. The story she was reading _Where I belong_ by _Horseluvr00_ , one of her favorites. The familiar sound of the lock to the dorm door caught her attention and she glanced up as the door slid open. Natalee wandered in and fell onto Billie's bed. The blonde dropped a hand to disappear into her curls. "How was bonding with your mother?" She asked. There was a small grunt from her roommate and she rolled over onto her back. Billie's hand returned to resting next to the mousepad on her laptop.

"One, not bonding. And two, it was fine...which is the problem" Natalee tilted her head to look at the screen. "Still reading that story?" Her voice was quiet. Tired.

"Yeah, it's really good" Billie murmured. "And how is that a problem?"

Natalee sat up more against the various pillows on the bed. She pulled the stuff Ewok out from under her back and tossed him on the floor, getting a quiet _"RUDE"_ from the blonde. "There wasn't a problem, no casualties, _AND_ I actually don't hate her. Which means they're going to want to spend more time with me"

Billie's voice was monotone, not looking away from the screen. "Still not seeing the problem here"

"Family is a lot of work. I should know, I grew up with fifteen other kids" Natalee's head moved to rest against her shoulder. She often fell asleep in Billie's bed. Billie guessed it was probably a trust thing, being able to fall asleep on someone, allowing yourself to be vulnerable while you slept. Sometimes it was annoying, Natalee's ice-like feet, her wild hair, the slight wheezing from her nose. But it was also cute. Her eyebrows would twitch, sometimes she'd growl softly, almost like a puppy. The nightmares seemed to disappear when Natalee was with Billie, almost like she forgot about the terror from her childhood. Billie knew a few things. Like the dangerous, unstable serum that floated around in her bloodstream. Natalee told her it was called the Project. The effects were usually completely different or varied depending on the person administered with the serum. Natalee told her about a few, super strength, super speed, extremely high intellect, healing factor. And also the negative effects, such as nerve damage, loss of eyesight, and totally going insane. _I was one of the lucky ones,_ Natalee had told her, _Enhanced reflexes, slightly faster and stronger thatn a normal person my age but no enough to cause suspicion._ The Project helped Natalee take down opponents like Don Rogers.

"Don't fall asleep in my bed again, I'll push you onto the floor" Billie said. There was a sharp inhale through Natalee's nose, a small laugh.

"No you won't" She murmured. It was true, she really didn't have the heart-or the guts-to push an assassin onto the floor. "Don't you have a History thing to finish?"

"Yeah, I'll do it later" She answered in a quiet voice. Natalee's breathing had slowed, a sign she had fallen asleep. A small smile appeared on Billie's face as she whispered, "Goodnight, red"

 ***SCENE BREAK***  
 **LATER THAT NIGHT...**

Billie awoke to darkness. But she could hear the quiet cries of a struggle. _Natalee_. She sat up and turned on the light next to her bed, squinting at the harsh assault on her eyes. Natalee was in her own bed, squirming around under the blankets and whining in her sleep. Must be another nightmare. The blonde got out of bed and crossed the room. Natalee's hands clawed at the air and she grabbed her wrists to prevent her from injuring either of them.

 **MEANWHILE...**

 _Natalee felt trapped between consciousness and subconsciousness. She felt like she was falling in an endless black void. Something was attacking her but she couldn't see what. A faint voice met her ears. "Natalee" It was Billie. She clawed at the air as she fell towards a white light._

Suddenly her grey eyes opened, pupils dilating. Billie was kneeling on the bed, holding her wrists in her hands. Relief flooded her chest. She was safe. She was okay. "Bird" She whispered.

"Yeah, I'm here. It's okay" The corner of Billie's lip lifted in a small, reassuring smile. She released Natalee's wrists as the archer sat up. "Was it a bad one?"

"Just a confusing one. Thanks for pulling me out of it" Natalee's voice was hoarse from sleep.

"I thought you were in my bed"

"Yeah, I got up for the bathroom and went back to my own bed" She rubbed her eyes. "You should go back to yours"

A look of uncertainty and concern flashed across Billie's features. "Are you sure you'll be okay?" She questioned.

Natalee gave her a reassuring smirk. "Yeah, bird, I'll be fine" She said with a small nod. Her partner's eyebrows faltered but she returned to her own bed, shutting off the light as she did so.

 ***SCENE BREAK***  
 **NEXT MORNING...**

Billie was gone when Natalee woke up. She sat up, stretched, waited for the fog of sleep to disappear, and went into the bathroom. After showering and drying her crazy curls, she changed into black Adidas pants and a grey tank top. On her way out the door, she pulled on her dark navy blue S.H.I.E.L.D. jacket and black Vans. Lots of dark colors today. Now to find Maria. Hopefully she wasn't too busy with S.H.I.E.L.D. stuff to hang out.

Natalee passed by a few other junior agents on her way to the bridge. Most in groups larger than two so they didn't really pay much attention to her. They were all older than her. And taller. But everyone was taller than her so she didn't really care about that detail.

 **ON THE BRIDGE...**

The sun shone through the large front windows on the bridge, a few agents were at their stations to make sure everything was running. They _were_ on the ground so not as many agents needed at one time. Marlo was talking with her father and Maria was at the beginning on Fury's walkway, looking at the file in her hands. She heard footsteps and looked up. "I thought you were hibernating" She commented with a small laugh.

"Trouble sleeping" Natalee looked over at Marlo and Fury.

"Hm. Want to talk about it?" Maria looked back down at the file.

"It wasn't serious" The girl shrugged, hands in her jacket pockets.

"That's good" She paused. "If you're here for a mission, there won't be one for a couple days. Go hang out with your friends, be a kid"

"I'm gunna go shoot things instead" Natalee said as she started walking away.

"Of course you are" Maria said with a sigh, glancing up to watch the girl leave.

 **SHOOTING RANGE...**

The shooting range was a large area. There were a few long enclosed areas for target practice, like any normal shooting range. Along with those, there were flat arena like areas for moving targets. Some would come at you on wires or from the path on the floor. Feeling lazy, Natalee took a training bow and quiver and stopped behind one of the counters of the enclosed areas. The quiver was hanging on a hook, nearly touching the floor. She drew an arrow and, without looking, fired it at the dummy. A smirk appeared on her face. Right between the eyes. "Hey, Natalee" A voice said and she turned her head. It was Clint. "Glad to see archery runs in the family" He said with a warm smile.

"Natasha away on a mission?" Natalee asked with a small tilt of her chin.

"I think she's getting something to eat. I come down here to relax" He shrugged and looked at the target. "Mind if I shoot with you? I hear you're pretty competitive"

"I like winning" The fifteen year old admitted with a small smile. It was only there for a brief moment, like most of her smiles. Clint drew an arrow and fired, splitting Natalee's arrow. Her eyebrows rose in shock. Her shoulders relaxed and a competitive looked graced her features. Grey eyes looking at the blonde man, she spoke with confidence in her voice. "Alright, you're worth my time. How about a wager?"

"You like pudding cups?" Clint asked. "Loser buys pudding"

"Deal" A small laugh escaped her lips.

For the next hour or so, Natalee and Clint competed with each other with the number of bullseyes. Natalee won by a single point by grazing Clint's arrow with her own, changing the courses of both their arrows, Clint's going off course and Natalee's going on course. Right into the center. True to his word, Clint bought the pudding cups for each of them in the cafeteria, where they discussed shooting tactics and other archery themed topics.

 **A/N: Also, before I forget: If anyone has criticism (which I'm fine with, it's encouraged even) I would appreciate it if it were not sent anonymously. If I have questions or need something clarified, I'd like to be able to PM you to ask them. I won't be turning anon off but for future reference, I'll just ignore anonymously sent criticism. Thanks ya'll! :)**


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N: *subtly slides new chapter across table***

 _ **FIVE YEARS AGO**_

 _Ten year old Natalee was standing on a sidewalk to the drop-off area of the Chicago Midway International Airport. Beside her was a red headed boy. He was twelve, two years older than she was. They had come to America together from their home in Sakha Republic, Russia. 750 miles from the nearest airport, the Khanty-Mansiysk Airport. There were people moving around them, getting in and out of cars with their luggage. Natalee took a step closer to the boy._

 _"Kak skoro mashina doberetsya syuda?" She asked quietly. (How soon will the car get here?)_

 _He looked down at her, his grip on the strap of his bag tightening. "YA ne znayu, skoro" He responded with a reassuring smile. (I don't know, soon). Natalee swallowed hard, scanning the crowd again as her hand disappeared into her pocket to fiddle with her knife. Their bags and coats had lined pockets that hid the weapons they had brought over. Commotion made him turn his head and his eyes narrowed beneath his sunglasses. Natalee peeked around him. There were well built men in suits and sunglasses. "Bezhat'" He said to her. (Run)._

"Natalee?" Clint waved his hand in front of her face. Instinctively, she grabbed his wrist and twisted, stopping before she hurt him. Releasing him, she shook her head. They were in the cafeteria of the Helicarrier. Natalee had been waiting for Billie to come home from a small vacation with her family, which wouldn't have been for about two weeks. The nights had been the worse, her sleep plagued with memories of her childhood. The pain, the blood, the people she lost.

"Sorry" She mumbled, gently twisting the watch around her wrist. Natasha tilted her head. She had noticed a few nervous ticks Natalee had. Twisting her watch was one. Though, she's never seen the teenager without it. Tapping her fingers to her thumb when she was lost in thought or gently rubbing her thumb over her bottom lip were others. She also noticed how her daughter had patches on her lips that were healing. She probably bit her lip when she was nervous.

"You okay?" Clint's voice caught both their attentions.

Natalee nodded, her hands dropping to the table. Her nails were a different color from last time they had seen her. Now a pattern of black and gold, instead of the black with red tips. Natasha didn't really peg her as a girl that was into doing her nails. But to each her own. "I must have been lost in thought" She forced a small laugh. "Were you asking me something?"

Natasha spoke up. "He asked where you grew up" She answered, bringing her water bottle to her lips/

"Oh, uh, Russia. Somewhere north, it was usually cold. Somewhere in the Sakha Republic, I think" Natalee's eyebrow twitched.

"That's a pretty large area" Clint took Natasha's hand under the table, trying to get her to relax. "Your mom's from Volgograd"

"Didn't that used to be called Stalingrad?" Their daughter asked with a slight tilt of her head. Natasha smiled softly and nodded. "Yeah, I know where that is. We had a...world...paper..." She trailed off, her eyebrows furrowing.

Clint raised an eyebrow. "A map?" He offered.

She nodded, looking down at the table between her and her parents. "Yeah. A map. The one we had was a little dated. It still said Stalingrad on it" She glanced up, seeing their questioning expressions. "I'm not a native English speaker. So I don't know or forget words sometimes"

"How old were you when you learned English?" Natasha asked.

"Six. But we rarely used it. I actually learned Romanian and Spanish before then just because there were people around me speaking them" Natalee shrugged. "Billie understands what I'm saying though. I guess that's good enough"

"I know a good bit of Russian from your mom. If it makes you feel more comfortable-"

"No, it's okay. I probably still need the practice if I'm forgetting words like map and shoelace-long story" Their daughter forced a small laugh. "It was a little difficult at first. Not everyone understood me with the accent and everything"

"Well, I think you've adjusted pretty well" Natasha commented and Natalee smiled softly.

 ***SCENE BREAK***

"What's up, kid?" Sharon Carter asked Nikki. The teenager looked up at her S.O., torn from her lost thoughts. They were in the gym, just finished with a training session. Nikki was sitting on the floor, stretching her leg out, her other foot pressed against her thigh.

"What?" She asked, blue eyes widening a bit.

"You're all spaced out. What's going on?" The blonde woman asked.

Nikki groaned quietly. "Thinking about how frustrating my friends are" She stretched both legs out in front of her, propping herself up with her arms. "It is so blatantly obvious that Natalee and Billie have a thing for each other but neither one has done anything"

"Is that what a crush is called? _A thing_?" Sharon raised an eyebrow.

"Crush is old school. No one really says it anymore" Nikki shrugged and continued. "I have tried everything to get them to confess their feelings. You'd think since they're both spies, they'd figure it out by now"

"Love is a weird thing, Nikki" She said.

Nikki scoffed. "We're all fifteen. Love is a little bit of a stretch even for them"

 **A/N: Sorry this is so short. I needed a filler chapter before the plot really picked up. Thanks for the patience and reviews are always encouraged! :D**


	14. Chapter 14

Natalee grunted when she hit the ground. Her feet were tangled in her sheets and she was shaking. While the memory of her nightmare was lost, the fear it left still gripped her heart. She pushed herself to sit up and took a deep breath, her grey eyes closing as her head rested against the side of her mattress. This was getting harder to deal with without Billie. Her partner was in London, visiting family for the next to weeks.

 _"If you need me, just call"_ Her voice echoed in her head. She pulled her phone from the bedside table, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. It was 4:34. Billie should be up, being 9:34 in London. Her thumb hovered over the call button and she tossed her phone aside with a frustrated groan. She sniffed and stretched her arms above her head, not stopping til she heard the small crack in her lower back. Untangling herself from her blankets, she stood up and disappeared into the bathroom.

 ***SCENE BREAK***  
 **A FEW HOURS LATER...**

After a pretty dark nightmare, Natalee usually liked being alone. She was up in the rafters of the gym, playing fruit ninja on her phone. The buzz of a text nearly made her jump. She sighed, angry at herself for letting her phone scare her. It was a text from Maria.

 _Maria:_  
 _My office ASAP_

Her eyebrows furrowed and she opened her messages.

 _Nat:_  
 _What's up?_

Natalee looked down at the other Junior agents doing various things. Lifting weights, sparring, doing laps, and just sitting around. Another buzz caught her attention.

 _Maria:_  
 _Just get here_

Her stomach flipped. This couldn't be good. How could her day possibly get any worse? " _Yebat'"_ She growled to herself and crawled across the metal beams to the latter on the far wall.

 ***SCENE BREAK***  
 **EARLIER THAT DAY...**

"You want to _what_?" Clint's eyebrows furrowed. He and Natasha were in Fury's office with Maria.

The brunette woman rolled her eyes. "I'm going to be leaving in a couple days for a mission. I'm not sure how long I'll be gone and with Billie in London, I'd like Natalee to not be alone. And you both discussed wanting to get to know her better"

Natasha raised an eyebrow. "Forcing her to go live with people she barely knows, probably against her will, isn't going to end well"

"Isn't J.A. Lewis in New York?" Fury asked. "Your kid won't be alone. She's friends with Nikki Lewis" He scratched his chin. "I should know, I've seen the incident reports pertaining to those three" He said with a slight grumble in his voice. Clint couldn't bite back his smirk at the thought of his daughter being mischevious and causing problems for someone as high up as Fury. _That's my girl._

Maria leaned on the edge of Fury's desk. "I can tell her today, give her a couple days to beat up some rookies and get used to the idea" She said. Clint and Natasha reluctantly agreed. Natalee's wellbeing was more important than their fears to be parents.

 ***SCENE BREAK***  
 **MARIA'S OFFICE...**

Natalee stopped outside the door. Her heart pounded in her chest and everything sounded faded, just her shakey breathing and racing heartbeat. The edges of her vision seemed blurred, like when you were injured in a video game. She felt lightheaded and reached out to open the door. It slid open with a small release of air and she stepped in. "Hey, kid" Maria greeted and Natalee felt herself relax a little. There wasn't anger in her voice.

"Why did you need to see me?" She asked, sitting on the armrest of a chair to slide into the seat, her feet thrown to the side. Maria got up from her desk chair to stand in front of her desk, leaning on the edge of it, arms crossed over her chest.

"I have to leave in a couple days, kid. I don't know when I'll be back" Maria started.

"So?" Natalee shrugged. "You leave for missions all the time"

"This time is different. I don't know when I'll be back and with Billie in London and Nikki in New York, I don't feel right leaving you here by yourself" Her S.O. said and Natalee rolled her eyes. "I talked it over with Fury and while I'm gone, you'll be staying with Natasha and Clint at the Avengers Tower in New York"

Natalee scoffed. "I'm sorry, what?"

"You leave in two days. Pack whatever you need for long overnight trips"

"Ria, you can't be serious" The fifteen year old sat up in her chair.

"I'm totally serious, Nat. I will try to call as often as I can, okay? Check in. Your friend, Nikki, will be there-"

"So will Don" She rolled her eyes. "I don't know those other kids, I barely know my parents, and now you're just going to send me away?" Natalee was starting to get angry.

"I'm not sending you away, kid" Maria sighed. "This is just a chance for you and your parents to get to know eachother outside of S.H.I.E.L.D.. This will be good. And if it's not, you don't even have to talk to them after I come back. It'll be your decision"

Natalee stood up, sighing angrily from her nose. "Fine" She turned to leave.

"Hey, little monster" Maria called and she stopped to look at her. "Proud of you" She smiled.

The red head couldn't bite back her smile as she rolled her eyes. "Nerd" She laughed and left the office.

 ***SCENE BREAK***  
 **New York...**

Nikki was sitting on the couch, bowl of popcorn in her lap. She was in the apartment she shared with her mother at Avengers Tower, watching _The Walking Dead._ Her phone buzzed and, without looking away from the screen, felt around the cushion for her phone. She pressed answer, putting the phone to her ear. "Yeah?" She answered, mouth full.

 _"Are you eating?"_ Natalee's voice asked.

"Yeah? Did you call me just to criticise my phone habits?" Nikki looked around for the remote, setting the bowl on the coffee table.

 _"No"_ There was a pause and Nikki thought she had hung up at first. _"Guess who's coming to New York"_ She sounded like she was trying to sound excited.

Nikki swallowed the remaining popcorn in her mouth. "Like, for a mission?"

 _"Maria is leaving for some mission and since you're in New York and Bird is in London, she figured it would be best if I stayed with my parents"_

"That's cool. When are you coming?" She stood up, still unable to find the remote. Her eyebrows scrunched when she couldn't find it.

 _"I think a couple days"_ Natalee sighed. Nikki started pulling the cushions from the couch. _"What the hell am I going to do?"_

"Pack a bag, get on the plane. I don't think there's much more you _can_ do. But, hey, we can hang out _and_ I'm pretty sure you'd like Astrid. Give you a run for your money on the sparring match"

 _"You setting me up with an Asgardian, Nik?"_ The red head teased.

"Maybe I am, red" Nikki laughed and muted her phone. "Mom! Where's the remote?" She called.

"Did you check the counter?" Darcy called back. Nikki whipped her head around, spotting the device on the kitchen island.

"Sneaky son of a bitch" Nikki grumbled to herself.

 **A/N: Look who wasn't garbage and finished a chapter in less than like, what?, four months. ME! As always, leave a review friendos :)**


	15. Chapter 15

**A/N: Whoo! New chapter!**

I sigh as I zip up my duffle bag and sling it over my shoulder. I check the list Maria had given me with a list of stuff to remember to pack, going over it in my head. Deciding I have everything, I grab my backpack and my quiver, my collapsable bow in it's place locked to the side of it. Maria is leaving today which means I have to get on a jet with my parents and fly to New York. I look back at the room I share with Billie. "Davayte spravimsya s etim" I say to myself. (Let's get this done)

 ***SCENE BREAK***

The elevator doors opened on Natalee's way to the hanger. "Hey, kid" Maria greeted softly as she stepped in. "I'll try to call you as often as I can, okay?"

"I know" Natalee was watching the number change. "I'm going to be okay. Nikki's going to be there and she said the other kids, the Avengers' kids, they're cool" She shrugged, opting to look at the scuff marks on the front of her converse. Maria sighs out her nose, running a hand through her brown hair. Natalee swallows hard, her dark red eyebrows furrowing. "I'm not stupid, Maria. In fact, I'm pretty far from it. You of all people should know that" She looked up at her handler. "The only reason you're sending me to stay with them is because you might not be coming back and you don't want me to be alone and get reckless"

Maria's mouth opened. Then closed. Opened again. The sound of the ding alerting them that they've reached her floor cut her off and the doors slid open. She noticed Natalee swallow hard. The agent squeezed her shoulder, smiling reassuringly at her. "Don't worry, it's gunna be fun" She said and took one of Natalee's bags. They stepped off the elevator and into the hanger. There was a quinjet, or rather an _Avenge_ -jet, a couple dozen feet ahead of her. She recognized Clint and Natasha standing by the ramp. They hadn't seen her and Maria, or most likely didn't acknowledge them yet.

 **NATALEE POV**

Clint sees us first, grinning as me and Maria approached. Natasha turns her head. Her smile is a little faltered, she's nervous. "I can take those" Clint holds his hands out. At first, I don't understand what he's talking about until Maria puts the bag she was holding in his hand. I glance at her and let my backpack slide off my shoulder, handing it to him. He takes them up onto the plane. Watching him, I notice there aren't any pilots. So either they know how to fly a plane or it's automated. Being Stark Tech, I assume the latter.

"I'll give you two a second" Natasha says, looking at Maria. She places a hand on my shoulder. "Come up when you're ready, okay?"

I just nod, watching her go after Clint. Maria nudges me to get my attention. I'm pulled against her chest and I sigh contently out my nose. "Don't cause too much trouble, okay?" She rests her chin on top of my head.

"Mhm" I respond, listening to the steady beat of her heart.

"I mean it, Nat. If Don tries to start something with you, _walk away_ "

I pull away to look her in the eye. "Can't I hurt him a little? Knock him off his feet at least?"

Her brown eyes narrow. "No. _Best_ behavior. Got it?" The tip of her finger taps my nose and I scrunch the bridge of it.

"Yeah, yeah" I shrug her off. Her smirk causes suspicion and suddenly she hugs me tightly, pressing multiple kisses to my face. "No! Maria stop!" I can't bite back my laughter as I try to fight her off.

"What's the matter, little monster? Am I embarrassing you?" Maria laughs between kisses.

"You're being weird!" I try to lean away from her but being the small teen I am, it's not effective. "Let me go, Ria!" I wriggle out of her arms. "Now I'm not going to miss you" I say jokingly and she rolls her eyes, playfully shoving my shoulder.

"Yes you will" She laughs, glancing at the plane. "Alright, kid, you gotta get going and I have to get ready for my mission" She says. I step forward to hug her.

"Come home safe, okay?" I look up at her. She smiles softly and ruffles my curls.

"Yeah, kid" She mumbled. "Alright, go. Before your parents think you made a run for it" She rested her hand on my head. I nod and turn to the plane. "Try to have some fun while in New York" Maria calls after me. I smile over my shoulder, pausing on the ramp.

"I can either behave or I can have fun. I can't do both" I call back with a laugh and joined my parents on the plane.

Clint smiles at me. "Ready to go?" He asks.

"I guess" I shrug.

 ***SCENE BREAK***

The plane was a few miles out from DC when Clint cleared his throat, his wife and his daughter looking up with matching expressions. He chuckled. "What?" Natasha asked.

"Nothing, just you two looked at me with the same face" He shrugged and looked at Natalee. "How long have you been with Maria?" He asked.

"She became my legal guardian...three years ago? Almost four" Natalee answered, picking at the threads sticking out of a hole on her jeans, on her thigh. "I didn't have a last name so I took hers"

"Maria said you came from Russia. How did S.H.I.E.L.D. recruit you?" Natasha asked, her head tilting.

"There was, uh, this list sent out around the time I defected with these other kids. Kind of like a junior most wanted list. Actually, that's exactly what it is. With more organizations using children to do their dirty work, they had to make a whole other list. That's how S.H.I.E.L.D. nearly caught me and this...other kid at the airport" Her gaze turned to the floor. "We had to split up and it took them around four months to actually catch me at a zoo" She said and sighed, a small smile appearing on her face. "The blood stain is still there. We've gone back to the zoo multiple times"

Clint snorted. "Blood stain?"

"I bit her when she grabbed me" Natalee shrugged. "Had to get my braces rewired. _That_ sucked" She ran a hand through her curls.

Natasha smiled. "You wore braces?" She asked. The girl nodded, pulling her phone from her pocket.

"Yeah, I have a picture" She said, pulling up the photo of her, Billie, and Nikki from two years ago, and handing her phone to her mother.

In the photo, Billie was holding the phone, one arm wrapped around Natalee with Nikki behind them. Natalee's curls were almost covering her eyes, her braces reflecting in the light as she smiled. Nikki held her fingers up behind her friends in bunny ears. Billie's nose was scrunched.

"You're adorable!" Clint cooed. Natalee bit her lip, looking down at the floor of the plane, when she felt her face heat up. "How could you see with your hair in your face?" He asked, looking up at her.

Natalee shrugged. "I was taught not to rely on one sense"

"Well," Natasha handed the phone back. "We have a gym on the floor below ours. There's simulations, Stark Tech equipment and weapons. You will be more than welcome to use it" She smiled. Natalee just nodded, now looking down at a text from Nikki. They'd be getting to New York soon.

 **A/N: Sorry, I just kinda dropped it here. Didn't really have a stopping place. Anyway, any ideas, prompts, or asks you guys have, please don't hesitate to ask. Reviews always make me want to get a new chapter out asap :) *thumbs up emoji***


	16. Chapter 16

**A/N: Sorry, I posted this and forgot a part. My bad. It's fixed now**

The plane landed and the ramp lowered. Clint grabbed the duffle bag while Natalee slung her backpack over her shoulder. She followed her parents off the plane. "What's up, Robin Hood?" A voice called. Natalee laughed and rolled her eyes, picking up her pace to greet her friend. She had never actually seen the movies that her friends usually referenced. Nikki glanced at Natasha and Clint, then back at Natalee, bringing her voice down. "Your parents have their daughter back home after fifteen years. Don't close off" She said.

Natalee rolled her eyes. "I _know_ , Nikki"

The brunette smiles triumphently. "Good. Maybe tomorrow, you can meet the Defenders" She suggest.

"The what?" Natalee's eyebrows furrowed.

"The Avengers' kids. They call themselves the Defenders. It's fitting" Nikki shrugged. Natalee glanced at her parents, who were waiting by the elevator, talking with eachother.

"I should go. I'll text you later" The red head adjusted her backpack and went to meet up with her parents.

 ***SCENE BREAK***

Clint flicked on the lights to their apartment. Ahead of them was the living room, long cream couch, glass coffee table, large flatscreen TV with black shelves on either side, framed pictures and random knick-knacks littered them. To the right was the kitchen, black marble counter tops, white cabinets. "Wow" Natalee whispered. She hadn't expected an assassin's apartment to look so fancy.

"I can take your backpack and put your stuff in your room" Clint offered. Natalee hesitantly handed her bag over and watched him disappear down the hall, noting which room he went into. Second door to the right.

Something furry rubbed against Natalee's leg and she flinched, looking down at her feet. There was a sleek black cat with white around it's muzzle staring up at her. The girl gasped and dropped to her knees. "Koshka" She said more to herself and petted the cat. Natasha smiled softly upon hearing her daughter speak Russian. The cat purred and nuzzled Natalee's hand. "What's her name?" She asked.

"Liho" Her mother answered. "She's actually a little older than you are"

"Really?" Natalee looked up.

"We got her-well _found_ her- a few weeks after I found out I was pregnant" Natasha crouched down and Liho meowed loudly at the woman. "She probably wants to be fed" She mumbled and stood, heading for the kitchen. Natalee stood and Liho circled her feet, meowing. The curly haired teen followed after her mother and the cat trotted ahead.

Natalee leaned on the counter of the kitchen island. She heard Clint's heavy footsteps behind her and glanced at him. He grinned and Natalee forced her half smile. He looked at Natasha, who had placed the cat's food bowl on the floor. "Hey, Tash, maybe Natalee might like to see our private gym" Clint suggested. Natalee narrowed her eyes. _Private gym?_

"You just want to see how good a shot she is" Natasha commented and her husband shrugged.

Their daughter spoke up. "Well, I am a pretty good shot"

 ***SCENE BREAK***  
 **A few hours later...**

Clint and Natalee had come back sweaty and smelly, parts of their clothes singed or torn. "What the hell happened to you two?" Natasha asked. She was on the couch, Liho in her lap with a wine glass in her hand. Clint was about to sit on the back of the couch. "Uh-uh, no. Off my couch until you shower" She shooed him away.

"We compared trick arrows" Natalee said with a smile. She seemed more relaxed, her bow hugged to her chest. "And Clint got competitive"

"Oh I got competitive?" He chuckled. "You are so my kid. Tash, you should have seen her. She didn't miss _once_ "

Natalee glanced down at the floor, biting her lip to try and stop the smile. She had to admit, it was fun shooting with someone who made a game out of it. "I should probably go jump in the shower" She said.

 ***SCENE BREAK***

Clint and Natasha had gone to bed. Natalee was standing in her room in black nike leggings, her thin running shoes, and a black t-shirt. She had realized that with her parents both being assassins they'd probably hear her in the hallway. While shooting, Clint had mentioned that the ducts were big enough for a grown man to crawl through. She looked around her room. Greyish blue walls, black dresser, desk, nightstand, red sheets on her bed. It wasn't a bad looking room. There was a dart board on the back of her bedroom door. She crouched by the vent cover and pried it open to crawl in. It was surprisingly easy to move around in the vents.

It wasn't hard to navigate to the elevator shaft. Every so often, she'd hear the machinery rumble, which helped her figure out which way she was going. Natalee grunted as she pulled herself up a vertical vent. There were little indents in the sides, like a small ladder. Natalee's eyebrows furrowed but she climbed them anyway. The elevator was getting closer. She crawled down a duct, stopping next to a cover. Gently running a hand over the edge, she felt the air blowing through from a draft. The elevator shaft must be next to her. There was another rumble of the machinery, the vent she was in shaking slightly. The elevator was going down. Natalee pulled the cover off the vent and looked through. The elevator was below her. Pulling her head back in, she crawled forward so she could drop feet first.

The elevator shook slightly when she dropped onto it. There was a hatch on the roof of it and she pulled it up, dropping herself into the elevator. Safe. She smirked to herself.

"Hi there" A voice made her flinch and she bit back a scream. It was a boy, around her age, dark brown hair, blue eyes. He took his hand from his jeans pocket and held it out to introduce himself. "David John Stark but you can call me D.J."

Natalee eyed him suspiciously and put her hand in his. "Natalee Hill"

He nodded. "Oh, you're Black Widow and Hawkeye's long lost daughter. Yeah, I can see the resemblance" D.J. looked at the numbers changing on the screen above the elevator door. "You know, if you're trying to sneak out, we have another elevator. The Defenders, that's our team, we don't use it too often but if you need a way out, I can show you" He offered.

"I think I'm good for now. But thanks" She said awkwardly, leaning against the back railing, her hands going into her pockets. "So you're Arsenal?" Natalee's head tilted. She already knew the answer.

"Yep. Hopefully you've heard only good things" D.J. chuckled.

Natalee watched the numbers change. They were nearing the highlighted floor. "Just what I've read from S.H.I.E.L.D. files" She shrugged. The elevator stopped and the doors opened.

"Well, Natalee Hill, if you need anything, I'm on the sixteenth floor" D.J. said with a friendly smile and stepped off. Natalee's grey eyes narrowed at his retreating back and the doors closed.

 ***SCENE BREAK***  
 **A FEW HOURS LATER...**

Natasha woke with a funny feeling. She glanced at Clint sleeping next to her and sighed quietly out her nose. She threw the blankets back and stood. Instinctively, she went down the hall to check on Natalee. Luckily, the door didn't creak.

To Natasha's relief, Natalee was in bed asleep. She was curled on her side, her curly red hair swept over and away from her face, sprawled out on the pillows. Her lips were parted and her fingers twitched occasionally. Natasha crept into the room, brushing away a stray hair, and gently placing a kiss to her temple.

 **A/N: What's up my dudes. Leave a comment, ask a question, whatever. Boop**


	17. Chapter 17

**A/N: *new chapter is thrown from a hole in the ground, covered in my blood, sweat, and tears. And a little bit of dog hair***

Natalee yawned as she entered the kitchen. She had been awoken by a certain feline standing on her chest and meowing. Said feline was trotting in front of her, heading towards Natasha. Clint chuckled at her disheveled appearance. "I see Liho woke you up" He said. Natalee nodded sleepily as she took the stool next to him, her hand propping her head up, fingers curled against her cheek as her eyes closed.

"I didn't think a..." She trailed off, her eyebrows furrowing, grey orbs reopening. "What's the English word for _koshka_?" She asked.

"Cat" Natasha answered from the fridge. She was rummaging through a drawer.

"I didn't think a _cat_ could be so loud" Natalee finished. "Any plans for today?" She asked.

Clint took a bite of his toast. "Actually, the other kids of the Avengers offered to bring you along with a mission. It's a standard intel recovery mission, shouldn't be too dangerous" He swallowed his food. "You up for it?"

Natalee shrugged. "Nothing better to do"

 ***SCENE BREAK***

Natalee zipped up the front of her suit and stretched her arms over her head, loosening up the material of her mission suit. She had gotten the text from Nikki to meet them in the hanger. She zipped up her boots and clipped her quiver on her back before heading out.

Clint looked up when Natalee entered the livingroom. Natasha smiled softly. "What kind of material is that?" She asked.

"Some sort of spandex-leather mixture. I'm not really sure, I was ten when I got this" Natalee shrugged.

"Ten?" Clint echoed.

Their daughter was checking that her weapons were all in their places. "Yeah, when I'm not wearing it, it looks like it's too small for me" She answered. "Okay, I have to meet Nikki and the other Avenger kids. I'll text you or something when we're on our way home"

"Be careful" Natasha called after her. Natalee looked over her shoulder, her signature "mission smirk" appearing on her face as she entered the elevator. "She gets that from you" Natasha said to the blonde man, who chuckled.

"The half smirk that usually comes before an ass kicking? Tasha, that's all you"

 ***SCENE BREAK***

Natalee stepped off the elevator, her grey eyes narrowed, a calm yet murderous expression on her face. Her _mask_ as Billie called it. She spotted Nikki standing with a taller girl, strawberry blonde hair. _Must be Tara Stark._

"Hey, Nat!" Nikki smiled and waved her over. She picked up her pace, smiling awkwardly at the other girl. "This is Tara Stark. Tara, this is Natalee"

"You're the assassin from S.H.I.E.L.D." Tara stated. It wasn't a question. Her expression seemed questioning, like she was skeptical of Natalee.

"Yeah, she's a pretty good shot. I thought she'd be helpful" Nikki shrugged. Tara gave a slow nod and walked off, going to check on the systems on her suit. There were footsteps from behind them and Natalee's hand twitched in the direction of the knife on her thigh.

A familiar voice made her relax. "Hey, what's up, ninja?" D.J. smiled, resting a hand on her and Nikki's shoulders. The brunette girl raised an eyebrow at her friend.

"You've met?" She asked.

Natalee sighed in a short half laugh. "It's complicated but yeah, we've met. Long story" She brushed his hand off, glancing around at the other defenders. Her eyes narrowed at Don, talking to a scrawny boy in what appeared to be a really wet suit. Tara had moved on to talk to a tall, tan girl with long blonde hair wearing armor. Must be the Asgardian.

D.J.'s voice almost startled her. "That's Astrid. A.K.A. Goddess. She's Thor's daughter. Over there is Don Rogers, A.K.A.-"

"Night Eagle. Yeah, we know eachother" Natalee said. "Who's the other boy?" She nodded to the scrawny kid.

Nikki answered this time. "Kadin Banner. Son of the Hulk"

"So he has his own altercation?" The archer asked, looking at her friend. "Like the Hulk?"

"Beast" D.J. said with a nod. "We should probably get ready to head out. Do you need the file?" He asked, started to head towards the jet, walking backwards

"I'll send it to her" Nikki assured him. He gave a thumbs up and turned around. Nikki looked at Natalee. "It's a standard information recovery mission. If it were anything else, the Avengers would have gone instead"

Natalee twisted her watch around her wrist. "I see they trust you guys _completley_ "

"Yeah. I don't blame them though" Nikki pulled her phone from her pocket, opening the file that D.J. had sent to everyone. "Password is _defendersrule_ no caps, no spaces" She told the red head.

 ***SCENE BREAK***  
 **NATALEE POV**

I'm sitting towards the back of the jet, checking a few of the tips of my arrows. My quiver sits next to me, bow collapsed and locked in against the side. I look up when someone stops in front of me. I'm a little taken back when I realize it's the Asgardian. Damn, is Asgard just filled with Lo'real models? Natalee focus. What does she want?

"You are the archer from S.H.I.E.L.D.?" She asked.

"I am" I keep my _poker face_ as I've been told, despite the intimidation of the tall, tan, blonde.

"I have heard tales. You seem like a fine warrior, I look forward to fighting along side you" Astrid smiles at me. Just when I thought she couldn't get any prettier. I shake my head, clearing my thoughts.

" _Spasibo_ " I say in Russian. (thank you). Her head tilts. "It's _thank you_ in Russian" I clarify. Note to self, watch the use of Russian around these people. Don walks over, killing my mood. He doesn't look at me, glancing around between the Defenders.

"We're getting close. Two minutes out. Get ready to drop" He says to them and walks away, back towards the center of the plane. I swallow hard and stand, following him.

"Don" I call softly. He stops, glaring over his shoulder. "Listen, I know we have our own problems but you are clearly a leader to these people. Respect me as a member, though temporary, and I'll respect you as a leader. Deal?" I hold my hand out, an offer of peace. Don's skeptical, looking from my hand to my eyes. I hear the slight grumble in his throat as he puts his hand in mine, a brief handshake. A truce. At least for now.

 ***SCENE BREAK***

The building's old. Made of concrete, the edges darkened and cracking from age. There's plants growing along a few walls. Something made me uneasy. We were north, near the Canadian border. That I know for sure, I didn't really care exactly where. I was with Nikki, sent to infiltrate and patch one of the twins into the their database while everyone else dealt with the guys outside. We had gotten in through a tunnel underground, probably long forgotten by these idiots.

"Are your assassin senses picking up anything?" Nikki whispers to me.

"What? That's not a thing" I say. There's a change in her breathing, like a small laugh.

"Sure it is. Pretty sure you've got some freaky sixth sense that detects danger" She stops before a corner, glancing around it before she continued. "Either that or you just have a habit of getting into shit you shouldn't"

I smirk, though she can't see it. "My money's on the latter"

The subject changes, back to the mission at hand. "We might have to split up. This place is too big to find their computer on our own" She whispers over her shoulder. "If something happens, you call someone" Nikki adds, glaring at me over her shoulder. I roll my eyes.

"You are such a mom friend" I mumble as we split up. I just learned the term not too long ago. A friend who's always worried for the other friends. It's fitting and it annoys Nikki. Win-win.

I slowly make my way up a set of stone stairs, pulling an arrow from my quiver. It's a normal one, no need for tricks just yet. There are voices from the other side of a heavy wooden door. How old is this place?

 _"...There is evidence she is alive"_ One voice says. There's a hint of an accent. Some sort of European, near Russia but not Russian. Who's alive?

Another voice speaks. _"Unlikely. That bitch went down with the rest of the Serbian base"_

Serbia? Who's this _she_ they're talking about?

 **((A/N: switching tense here sorry))**

My plan _was_ to try and hear more, get as much information as I could but the door was not as sturdy as I thought and I heard a sickening crack of the door falling off it's hinges and I fell with it.

Nothing happened at first as the dust settled. I didn't move, the small group of agents didn't move. We were frozen in a staring stand off. One of them seemed to be in charge, a patch on the right side of his chest with a red scope symbol on it. The agent next to him spoke, eyes wide.

"The archer" He said in a hushed voice. Well shit. What information did these people have that the Avengers wanted? How did they even _know_ about this group? Realization hit me. _Serbia_. Rage rushed through my veins and I was suddenly on my feet, tackling the man that had spoken. I heard the sound of guns being pulled from their holsters and a bullet whizzed by my head.

Twisting the man's arm behind his back, I used him as a shield as I pulled his gun from his holster. I shot the two agents near the back of the room that had tried to flip a table. My human shield took a bullet and I pushed him towards another agent, shooting that guy through the human shield.

I turn as the leader fires a bullet. I don't move fast enough and it grazes my side. Fiery pain sears through me and I drop behind the table. Metal, good it'll block the bullets just long enough.

My jaw clenches, fist tightening with my nails digging into my palms, even with the gloves. A tingling, burning pain ripples through my body as the graze on my side slowly begins to heal itself. The skin's pulled together and a scar is left behind. I'm left panting, a little drained. But not enough. I vault over the table but before I could even raise my gun, a bullet breaks through the window to my left and hits him in the chest. I'm stunned for a moment as he falls to the ground with a thud. There's a sizzling noise and the man begins to scream. The flesh around the bullet wound is being eaten away. Like acid.

"What the hell?" I whisper and whirl around, searching the shadows of the other old buildings and treetops, scanning for any signs of a sniper. I know that kind of bullet. But it couldn't be. What the men had said runs through my mind again.

 _There is evidence she is alive._

A flicker of light, a reflection, catches my eye. It was brief, gone almost as soon as I had seen it. But I _did_ see it.

 ***SCENE BREAK***  
 **NO POV**

Natalee met back up with Nikki in one of the upper levels. They had easily cleared the room of the three guards and Nikki told her to patch D.J. through into the system to retrieve the intel while she watched the door.

Natalee took the USB from her friend and headed towards the computer. There were three screens, one large one in the center with a smaller one on either side. The screen to the right caught her eye. There were files on known assassins. On child assassins like Natalee. She felt her chest tighten. She knew them. Granted, most were either dead or missing, but she _knew_ them. She grew up with them. Is this what the Avengers were after? Natalee glanced over her shoulder at Nikki, who wasn't facing her. Swallowing hard, she pulled a small computer chip from a slot on her watch and insterted it into the computer.

After quickly cross checking for key words pertaining to her and her old assassin team, she put the chip back in her watch and plugged the USB into the computer, her hand going to her earpiece.

"You're in, D.J." She told him, covering the uneasiness in her voice. Why were the Avengers looking for information on Renegade kids?

 **A/N: This was interesting. Natalee meeting the team, Don and Natalee putting aside their weird feud, a mystery sniper, and some hints to Natalee's background.**

 **Normally, I put the chapters through Word cuz the program I use doesn't have spell check for some reason, but there was so much italics and bolded words that I really didn't have the patience for it. If there are spelling or grammer mistakes, that's why.**


	18. Chapter 18

**A/N: Don't forget about the Ask the Red Archer Characters if you guys have questions.**

Natasha was on the couch, book in her lap, wine glass sitting on the table next to her. She looked up when the elevator opened. Natalee seemed a little bruised and dirty but wasn't limping or favoring anything. A rip in the side of her suit caught the older assassin's attention however. There was dried blood around it. But no wound. Her emerald eyes narrowed. Where could the blood have come from if Natalee wasn't hurt?

"Hey" Natalee said a little awkwardly. She set her quiver and her bow on the armchair. "Where's Clint?" She asked.

"Target practice in the gym" Natasha answered, setting the book aside. "How was the mission with the Defenders?"

"Successful. There were more people there then I originally thought. It was an old building in the middle of nowhere" Natalee ran a hand through her curls. She paused, eyebrows furrowing briefly. Her eyes met her mother's. "What did the Avengers want with their information anyway?" She asked. "From what I saw, there were only weapon blueprints and employee information. Not exactly end of the world stuff"

Natasha didn't say anything. At least not at first. Her head tilted slightly and her eyebrow twitched. "I'm not exactly sure to be honest. I know Tony wanted their intel for something, I just didn't ask why"

"I'm going to change out of this" Natalee turned and left, heading for her room.

 ***SCENE BREAK***  
 **NATALEE POV**

I'm laying in bed, showered, hair up in a towel, and in pajamas. Well, a t-shirt and Black Widow pajama pants, same thing. The sun's going down, casting golden rays along the floor. My laptop sits on my stomach, the files I took during the mission littering my screen. There were mission reports and files of the assets. I snort to myself. _Assets_. No, they were children. Killing people as soon as they could walk. Brainwashed to be soldiers.

My phone starts to buzz and my fingers pause, the only sound in the room being my phone. I sit up, setting the laptop aside. I press answer and lay back down in the small mountain of pillows, returning my laptop to it's place on my stomach.

 _"What's up, red?"_ A familiar voice brings relief and I can't stop myself from smiling. It's Billie.

"Hey, how's London?" I ask.

 _"It's different. Everything seems kinda backwards. How's living in New York with your parents?"_ She asks. Her tone is light and friendly. She must be having fun.

I sigh. "It's a little weird. I met the Defenders today. Astrid, uh-Thor's daughter, she's pretty cute" I say. There's a pause and I feel my chest tighten. Uh oh. I've probably outed myself. I'm not super secretive about having feelings for both boys and girls, Nikki knows, I was just waiting to tell Billie since we basically live together. I didn't want it to be weird. I decide to continue. "Nikki's been helpful. I don't feel totally alone"

 _"You could have called me"_ Billie says. I hum quietly, like a small laugh. _"Any missions yet?"_

"Yeah, one earlier today. Near the Canadian border" I sit up some. "Actually, it was weird. We were in this huge old building, entirely made of concrete, and there were Renegade agents there"

Billie knows about the Renegade. I've told her about it after so many night terrors. She promised not to say anything to anyone.

 _"The Renegade? I thought they stayed out of the US"_ There was the sound of a door closing.

"Yeah, they did. But there's a buyer here in the US. Someone's buying Renegade tech and it's being shipped to New York. I just don't know who the buyer is" I sigh, looking through another file. "The word _hammer_ keeps coming up but it's capitalized. Does that seem familiar?" I ask. Maybe it's a name.

There's silence. At first I think she accidentally hung up on me but then I hear a shakey breath intake. _"Yeah. Justin Hammer. He created Hammer Industries_ " She tells me. My eyebrows furrow and I open the internet on my computer, Googling _Hammer Industries_.

"A weapons manufacturer company led by Justin Hammer" I read off the screen. "It seems like Hammer Industries keeps trying to compete with Stark Industries" I say in amusement.

 _"It's been a long feud between them and I think Hammer got arrested at some point. Are you going after them?"_ There's a different tone in her voice. She knows the answer.

A yawn delays my answer. "Not tonight. I'll figure something out tomorrow night"

 _"And I'm guessing you're not going to tell your parents?"_

"They'll start asking questions. I'll have to find a way to sneak out" I close the laptop and set it aside. Shifting the phone to my other hand, I pull the towel off my hair. It's still a little damp but I don't really care.

 _"You sound tired. Not sleeping very well?"_ She asks softly. Actually, it's her voice lulling me to sleep but I'm not going to tell her that.

"No but I'll live" I yawn again.

 _"You can call me, Natalee"_

"I know, bird" Another yawn. Ugh.

 _"Okay, well I'll be home in a few days. If you can't sleep, call me, okay?"_

"I will" I smile softly. We say goodbye and I hang up, plugging my phone in on the nightstand.

 ***SCENE BREAK***  
 **LATER THAT NIGHT...**

 _"Agent Barton"_ J.A.R.V.I.S. addressed, his voice distrupting the quiet in Natasha and Clint's bedroom. Both assassins were up and wide awake, Clint a little less than Natasha.

"What is it?" He asked groggily.

 _"Your daughter appears to be in distress"_ The A.I. told them. The two glanced at eachother briefly and leapt out of bed.

 **MEANWHILE...**

 _ **NATALEE POV**_

 _I'm sitting on the carpet of the old house, in the livingroom. Some of the other kids are around, on the couch, running up and down the stairs. A blonde woman with gentle brown eyes slowly enters the room. My head tilts. It's Mami. Something's wrong though. I hear someone behind me sit up. It's a red headed boy._

 _"What's wrong, Mami?" He asks with a Russian accent. Mami takes a shakey breath and sits in the armchair._

 _"Everyone come here" She called. Aaryn and Cooper stop running around and the older kids gather around the back of the couch. Kelly has her infant brothers on her hips. "I've got some bad news" Mami says softly._

 _Kelly speaks up. She's Mami's biological daughter, same blonde hair, same eyes. "What is it?" She asks._

 _"I just got word from the base in Serbia. There was an accident and...and Nessa didn't make it" Her voice is broken but she's trying to stay strong for us._

 _My voice comes out a squeak. "Nessie iss dead?" I ask. My accent is there. There were small exclaims of disbelief from behind me. It couldn't be. I stand and run out. I can hear Mami and some of the other kids calling after me._

 _"Natalee!" The red headed boy grabs my hand and spins me around. My eyes shut tight, my head shaking. I don't want to believe it. Nessie can't be dead. She can't be. "Natalee" He prompts, trying to get me to open my eyes. Everything becomes echoed._

 _"Natalee"_

"Natalee"

 **NO POV**

When Natalee's eyes opened, she didn't recognize the two adults by her bed as her parents. She saw Mami and an evil looking man with a scar on his cheek. Anger flared in Natalee's chest and she swung, hitting the man in the jaw. He fell out of eyesight and Natalee shook her head. Her vision returned to normal. She was in her room. She was okay, it was just a dream.

Natasha's voice startled her. "Natalee" She said softly. A groan caught Natalee's attention. Maybe not a dream. Clint picked himself up, lightly touching his nose. There was blood on his hand and smeared under his nose.

Natalee gasped. She hurt him. "Did I do that?" She whispered.

"I'm okay, honey" Clint tried to assure her. Natalee flinched away from Natasha's attempt to try and calm her.

"I hurt you" Tears appeared in her grey eyes and she pressed herself farther into the corner.

"Natalee, I'm okay" He insisted. Natasha stood from the bed and disappeared from the room for a moment, returning with a rag from the bathroom for her bleeding husband.

Natasha returned to her spot on the edge of the bed. "You were screaming in your sleep. We came to see if you were okay when you punched him. It's okay, Natalee, I've done it before"

Clint nodded, trying to stop the blood. "Yeah, you almost hit as hard as your mama" He joked lightly, trying to ease the tension. "Natalee, I'm okay. It's just a bloody nose"

"But I _hit_ you" Natalee whimpered, her chest heaving in her effort to try and not start crying.

"You didn't mean to, bug" Natasha was unsure whether to try and hug her. She didn't like seeing Natalee like this, curled up and shaking in a corner, but trying to hug might freak her out more. "Hey, listen to me" She shifted so Natalee couldn't see her father. "It was a nightmare, wasn't it?" She asked. Natalee, with big grey eyes and her fists to her chest, nodded quickly. "It's okay to have nightmares. Me and your dad still have nightmares and when we wake up, we don't always know where we are. Is that what happened? You thought we were someone else?" Natasha asked softly. Natalee nodded again. "It's okay. We're not upset" She held out a hand. The girl looked skepitcal but slowly uncurled herself.

Natalee felt the sigh of relief from Natasha when she shifted closer, allowing Natasha to wrap her arms around her. Natalee's head fell to Natasha's chest, the steady heartbeat and the gentle hand in her hair calming her. She glanced at Clint. The blood seemed to have stopped and he had wiped most of it away. A soft smile appeared on her face and her eyes felt heavy.

Clint spoke softly, his voice calm and non-threatening. "Kiddo, if you want, you can sleep in bed with us. I know after a nightmare, me and your mom don't like being alone" He offered. Natalee's gaze casted down, looking at the blanket, as she thought it over. The memories of past nightmares ran through her head like a sped up movie. Swallowing hard, she nodded. Clint could see her uneasiness. "It's only if you want to, Natalee. We can stay here until you're okay"

Natalee shifted, rubbing her eyes. "I used to crawl into bed with Billie after a nightmare. I don't want to be alone" She murmured and yawned.

"Let's get you into bed then before you fall asleep" Natasha chuckled lightly. Natalee nodded, sitting up. Clint slid off the bed, crouching next to it.

"Want a piggy back?" He offered. Natasha kissed her temple as she stood up. With a sleepy smile, Natalee hopped onto his back, her arms loosely wrapped around his neck. She sighed contently. Maybe trying to have a family again won't be so bad.


	19. Chapter 19

**A/N: I finished this at 12:30 AM with a headcold while watching Deadpool. *thumbs up***

Natasha _had_ planned to get up and make breakfast but someone was attached to her and refused to let go. Natalee was still asleep, her head resting between Natasha's chest and shoulder, one hand gripping her shirt. There was a grumble from their left as Clint woke up. "Hey" Natasha whispered. Clint sat up, rubbing his eyes. He chuckled quietly.

"She's doing that thing she used to do when she was little" He commented. Natasha's eyebrows furrowed, her head tilting towards Natalee's. "Remember when she was little? And when she'd sleep in your arms, she'd grab your shirt?" Clint smiled softly. "You think she was okay?" He whispered.

"We could just ask her, you know. When she wakes up" Natasha gently petted the girl's hair and kissed her head. Clint sighed quietly, looking fondly at their daughter.

"She has freckles" He commented quietly.

Natasha's eyebrows furrowed as she shifted to see the sleeping girl's face. There were semi-faded freckles across her cheeks and her nose. "I don't know where she gets that from" She murmured.

"Yeah, I'm sure you don't" Clint chuckled. "Tash, you've got a whole bunch of them on your shoulders" He said and the woman narrowed her eyes at him. Clint kissed her cheek. "I'm going to go make breakfast" He placed a gentle kiss to Natalee's temple, who grumbled in her sleep, shifting in Natasha's arms.

 ***SCENE BREAK***

Natalee's grey eyes cracked open. She was in her parents bedroom, curled up in Natasha's side, her mother's arms loosely wrapped around her. "What time is it?" Natalee asked in a mumble but made no movement to get up other than rubbing her eyes.

"Oh, hey, you're up. Um..." Natasha shifted to look at the clock. "A little after ten"

Natalee sniffed. "I smell food. Did Clint make breakfast or are you in two places at once?" She asked.

"You're hilarious" Natasha rolled her eyes. Her daughter was half asleep but the smug half-smile still appeared on her face. The kind Clint had when he made a dumb joke. "You hungry or you need a minute to wake up?" She asked, brushing her fingers through Natalee's curls.

Natalee sighed and sat up. "I actually have to pee so I'll meet you in the kitchen" She said as she slid off the bed. Natasha smiled to herself as she watched Natalee leave the room.

 ***SCENE BREAK***

Natalee had shoveled another forkful of eggs into her mouth when she felt someone kiss the top of her head. Clint put a plate in front of Natasha as she sat down. "We don't have anything for dinner. Or breakfast tomorrow" Clint told her. "I have to go into S.H.I.E.L.D. today, think you'll have time to go to the store?" He asked.

"Yeah. Tape the list to the fridge before you leave though so I know what I'm getting" Natasha swallowed and turned to her daughter. "What do you want to do?" She asked.

Natalee's head tilted, her grey eyes narrowing slightly. "What do you mean?"

"You could go with your dad" Natasha gestured to Clint with her fork. "Or you could come to the store with me or hang out with the Defenders or just hang out here by yourself" She said. Loud meowing caught everyone's attention and they looked down at the floor, where Liho was weaving between the chair legs. Clint set a bowl down on the floor.

"I'll see what the Defenders are doing. You know, try to make friends" The curly haired girl shrugged, speaking to Natasha but watching the cat. "Without Nikki and Billie, S.H.I.E.L.D. is kinda boring. And Maria isn't going to be back for a while"

"Don't get into too much trouble" Natasha smiled softly at her and looked at Clint. "What time are you leaving?" She asked.

Her husband glanced over his shoulder at the oven clock. "Ten minutes at the least" He answered. "Actually, I should go get ready" He shoveled a few quick mouthfuls of eggs into his mouth, kissed his girls on the cheek, and ran in the direction of his room.

Natalee looked at her mother. "What store are you going to?" She asked.

"Probably Costco" Natasha shrugged. She noticed the brief furrowing of Natalee's eyebrows, and how her nose scrunched, in confusion. "What?" She asked.

"I haven't been in a Costco. I've been in a 7/11, a CVS, and a Target" Natalee took the toast off the edge of her plate. "None of those experiences ended well for me. Or for Maria, I hit her with that bullseye dog thing"

Natasha snorted. "How did you hit Maria with that bullseye dog from Target?"

"This other guy knocked me into a shelf that happened to have the dog on it, that fell, and I threw it at Maria to get away" Her daughter shrugged. "It's odd but it worked" She laughed.

"Want me to get anything specific from the store?" Natasha asked as she finished off her plate and got up to put it in the sink. "Favorite snacks or anything?" She turned with an outstretched hand, silently asking for Natalee's now empty plate.

"Cherries, if they're there" Natalee answered, handing her mother the plate.

Natasha smiled. "You like cherries?"

"Yeah, they're my favorite. I used to spit the pits at my friends" The teen scrubbed a hand through her curls, laughing quietly to herself. She trailed off, lost in thought. Deciding to change the subject before she was asked questions, she shifted in her chair. "You were brought up by the Red Room, right? That's what your file says"

The older assassin tensed. "I was. Why?"

"Do you know anything about what the Red Room was doing after you defected?" Natalee asked. She could see it was a sensitive subject, judging by the way Natasha's "Black Widow mask" was starting to show.

"No, not really. What's this about, Natalee?" Natasha's emerald eyes narrowed. Her daughter was dodging the question on why she was asking questions.

The girl shifted, her fingernails lightly tapping on the countertop. She looked down at her fingers. "Nothing. I was just looking through some S.H.I.E.L.D. files and I was curious" Natalee shrugged. She picked her phone up from the counter. "I'm going to go see what Nikki's got planned. Text me if you need help with the stuff you got from the store" She said as she got up.

 ***SCENE BREAK***

Natalee, now dressed in a star wars t-shirt and black skinny jeans, stepped out of the elevator, onto the floor where the Defender's "base" was. There was a small gym, a smaller Avengjet, a lab, and a recreational area. Natalee spotted Nikki standing in the lab, watching the twins doing whatever they were doing.

Getting closer, she realized they were testing their suits, probably software or weapons upgrades. "Oh hey" Nikki said, just noticing her standing there. "What's up?"

"What are they doing?" Natalee nodded to the twins.

"D.J. said the calibration on his thrusters were off so Tara's trying to fix it. I'm just waiting for something to go wrong and see if he goes through a wall again" Her friend shrugged with a laugh.

"Again?" Natalee's eyebrow lifted.

Nikki snorted in laughter. "Yeah, last time, they had the power of the thrusters set completley off and D.J. almost went through the ceiling. I think he broke a sprinkler"

"Hey Nat!" D.J. called with a wave. "Come here!" He waved her over. Natalee sent an unsure glance to Nikki, who rolled her eyes and gave her a light shove. "I noticed you sometimes used trick arrows, you know, like your dad. So Tara and I made some new ones for you to test out" D.J. was hopping on one foot, trying to get the boot of his suit off. He lost his balance and fell onto his side, deciding to stay on the floor to get his boots off. Tara rolled her eyes and picked up a weapons case off the floor, setting it on a table. She flipped the latches off while her brother stood up. "Some of these started as jokes but after we made them, I figured you could find a use for them"

Natalee seemed skeptical. She sighed out her nose. "Show me what you got" A small smile appeared on her face. D.J. grinned, happy to get Natalee more involved with their team.

"Force field arrow" Tara pulled it out. The tip was glowing. "It'll create a dome of static electricity, volatile enough to richochete anything trying to break through. People, debris, bullets, whatever" She held the arrow out and a bow. "Try it out, see if it works"

Natalee took the bow and started flipping the arrow around between her fingers. "Where do you want me to shoot it?" She asked.

D.J. spoke up. "Just somewhere at the floor. I would say by your feet but if the electricity hits you, it would probably hurt alot" He said. Natalee shot at the floor a few feet away without looking. There was a small series of rapid beeps and a surge of electricity. A dome formed around the arrow, jagged streaks of tiny lightning leaping across the light blue colored force field. D.J. picked up a wrench and threw it at the dome. There was a crackling sound and the wrench was rocketed across the lab, nearly hitting Nikki.

"What the hell?!" She glared at the Stark boy.

"I didn't know it was going to do that!" He defended.

"That was pretty cool though" Natalee said and Tara shrugged in reluctant agreement.

 ***SCENE BREAK***

Natalee sat on a bench next to Nikki, tired out from testing arrows. So far, her favorites were the force field arrow, the net arrow, the small boxing glove arrow, the goo arrow, and the arrow that just emitted a really bad smell. "Having fun?" Nikki asked with a laugh.

"I gotta hand it to them, they know what they're doing" Natalee admitted. They watched the twins test their own weapons, firing the close combat weapons at eachother, for a moment when Natalee continued. "Interested in a stealth mission tonight?" She asked.

"Depends. What are you planning?" Nikki looked at her. She kept her voice lowered, knowing anything concerning the Renegade should be kept between them.

"Renegade's selling their weapons to some guy named Justin Hammer. I just need the information on it. Figured it would probably go better with you there, right?"

Nikki scoffed. "Please. You had S.H.I.E.L.D. on the run for three months when you were _ten_. I seriously doubt you need _my_ help on an intel mission with a group you clearly know more about"

Natalee turned her head, a small smile on her face. "Maybe I like having a partner. You don't know me" She shifted, scratching the bridge of her nose. "How's eleven sound for a departure time? I don't really want anyone finding out about this"

"What about Billie?" The brunette asked.

"Billie's still in England. I don't see what good it'll do if you tell her" Natalee shrugged. "But you're _on board_ with a mission?" She asked.

Nikki snorted. "Watching you try to use American slang is still so hilarious. Yes, Nat, I'm down for a mission" She laughed.

 **A/N: With school starting, I'm not going to be updating a whole lot. I'll try to do what I can, reviews always help speed the process along**


	20. Chapter 20

**A/N: Whoa chapter 20. This might be shorter than others, sorry bout that my dudes.**

Nikki stepped off the elevator, a zipped up hoodie over her suit. The bottom half of her suit was black, not drawing much attention to herself. She had a backpack with her weapons in it, including her phone and her mask. Natalee was sitting in one of the armchairs in the lobby, a sweatshirt over her suit and untied converse over her boots. Her boots were small and thin, almost like socks but made from a durable material so they could easily hide underneath converse shoes. A duffle bag sat next to the armchair, probably with her own weapons in them. "Hey, Merida" Nikki flicked her arm as she stopped next to her. Natalee rolled her eyes, making a mental note to actually watch _Brave_ at some point.

"You ready?" Natalee stood up, grabbing her duffle bag.

Nikki followed her towards the door. "You never really said where we were going"

"I was going to tell you on the way" The red head laughed lightly as they left Avengers Tower.

 ***SCENE BREAK***

The two were across the street from the Hammer Industries building, in the alley. "Why would the Renegade send weapons to a company like Hammer Industries?" Nikki asked as she unzipped her hoodie.

"It's a fall guy. If the weapons backfire, it won't trace back to the Renegade, only Hammer Industries. And then the Renegade can continue working in the shadows" Natalee explained, leaning against the dumpster to pull her shoes off. "This doesn't seem like the most secure facility but the only other building that came up in my...my uh, search, was a group of warehouses" She took her quiver from the duffle bag and locked it into place on her back.

"What specifically are you looking for?" Nikki asked, loading her gun with rubber bullets and holstering it.

"Anything with the Renegade. I need to know if they're trying to get into the U.S." Natalee pulled her hoodie off over her head.

Nikki raised an eyebrow. "And what exactly is your plan if they are?" She asked. "I really hope your plan isn't to try to take on a secret spy organization by yourself"

Her friend laughed lightly, running her fingers through her curls. "No, I have people I can call. And if it comes down to it, I can ask the Defenders to lend a hand" She shrugged. "You sure you want to do this?"

"Of course, Nat. You're my friend. I'd like to think you'd do the same for me if I ever needed your help" Nikki smiled softly. Natalee's head tilted and she nodded. She turned, looking at the building. There were men in suits standing by the doors. "I hope you're not thinking of using the front door" Nikki sighed.

"Thinking about it. There's only two of them" Natalee shrugged. "I'll distract them with one of D.J. and Tara's new arrows and you take them out" She said.

 ***SCENE BREAK***

Natalee and Nikki were crouched behind a car. Natalee picked a pebble off the ground and threw it, hitting the door behind the two men. They turned, giving the two girls enough time to sneak out from behind the car. Natalee shot her arrow, hitting the ground between the two. It beeped and released a cloud of bluish green smoke. The guards coughed and tried to wave the smoke away from their face. A trash can suddenly flew through the air, hitting one of the guards, then the other. Natalee stared wide-eyed as Nikki ran from around the corner and threw the lid at the second guard.

"What the hell was that?" The red head sputtered.

Nikki shrugged. "I'm being creative. Come on" She jumped up the steps and pulled at the door. Natalee rolled her eyes and pulled a key card off one of the guards. Holding it up to Nikki, she slid it through the slot and the door unlocked. "Shup up, Merida" Nikki grumbled as she went in.

 ***SCENE BREAK***

Surprisingly, there weren't alot of guards around. Sure, they ran into a couple that were easily taken down but Natalee expected more. Especially if the Renegade was sending them weapons. It made her uneasy, the hair on the back of her neck rising. Nikki stopped by a lab door, holding her hand out for the key card. She unlocked the door and they stepped in. There was a rather large computer system. "Watch the door, I'll see what I can find" Natalee said, collapsing her bow and locking it next to her quiver. Nikki lowered her gun while her friend hacked into the computer system. The room was colder than the rest of the building, the lights dimmed. She stayed by the doorway. There was a beep from the machine and Natalee mumbled something to herself, grabbing the brunette's attention. She left the doorway to look at the screen over Natalee's shoulder.

"What is it?" She asked.

"I know what weapons the Renegade's sending-ow!" Natalee reached for her neck, there was a dart. She pulled it out but the little tube was empty. "Oh fu..." She fell to the ground, losing conciousness.

"Nat?" Nikki turned to see a young blonde woman in the doorway, who shot a dart into her neck. Nikki fired twice, narrowly missing the woman, before losing conciousness herself.

Justin Hammer strode into the room, a grin on his face. "Yaakov is going to love this" He said in amusement. The blonde woman rolled her eyes.

 **A/N: Ahaha cliff hanger. I've got most of the next two chapters written out so if I have time tomorrow, I'll edit and post**


	21. Chapter 21

**A/N: Guess who keeps getting distracted by the internet? It be meeeeee**

Natalee was thrown into a small concrete smell, landing roughly on the floor. Her bruised sides screamed in pain and she struggled to find her breath. It was damp and cold, the air burning the back of her throat and her bleeding nose with it's faint salty smell of the ocean. Her lips were parted, any effort to get enough air in her lungs, her teeth stained with blood from her mouth. Her arms were hugged over her ribs, no doubt a few of them were either cracked or broken. The people that had taken her had left her in her compression shorts and her tanktop, exposing the bruises and the blood that covered her soaked body. She was pale and wheezing, her eyes dull and clouded, strands of wet dark red hair clung to her forehead and her freckly shoulders. She was trembling from the cold, staring at the two guards' boots, unable to bring herself to move.

The blonde woman spoke, a faint trace of a Russian accent in her voice. "Was this really necessary?" She asked the man. "You could not find handcuffs? She's fifteen"

He scoffed. "Really? You've read the files on Red Archer and her team. She was ten when they escaped, you really think she doesn't already have an escape plan? Handcuffs are probably a warm up for her" He approached Natalee, who strained to try to roll over, gritting her teeth at the searing pain surging through her body, the muscles in her back tightening in protest. A tear escaped her eye, rolling down her cheek to mix with the blood. A smirk appeared on the man's face as he pulled his gun. Two bullets were sent into her leg, one in the side of her thigh, the other just above her knee. Natalee groaned loudly in pain. The man turned back to the blonde woman. "There, see? She's not getting out of here" He passed her, his shoulder hitting hers, as he left the cell. "You can take first watch" He called over his shoulder.

The blonde woman huffed and rolled her eyes, turning her head as she looked in the direction the man disappeared. Natalee noticed the red scope tattoo on the side of her neck, behind her ear. She shifted, holding her left wrist out to look at the same red scope tattoo inbedded in her skin. She knew who this was.

 ***SCENE BREAK***

Nikki groaned as she woke up back in the lab. She sat up, rubbing her neck. Natalee was gone. She pulled her phone from her pocket and opened a program Natalee had installed on both her and Nikki's phones. There was a light green blip on a radar map. Natalee was close and had activated a stress beacon. She got to her feet, running her other hand over her other pockets, checking quickly for her weapons. Everything was still there. Why would the people that knocked them out only take Natalee and leave Nikki with all her weapons?

"You had better be alive, you asshole" Nikki whispered to herself and headed for the door.

 ***SCENE BREAK***

The blonde woman was about to leave when Natalee spoke. Her words were slurred and mumbled, the blood in her mouth making it hard to speak. "Boris" She said, her voice barely a whisper. But the woman heard her. Her shoulders tensed but she didn't turn. Natalee spat a small stream of blood from her mouth, some of it getting stuck to her cheek. "I recognized...your brand" She tapped the spot behind her ear weakly, where the woman's tattoo was, though she wasn't looking. "You and...your brother were the best team the Renegade had. Unstoppable" Natalee shifted to try and push herself up more. Her muscles screamed in pain and she gritted her teeth. The woman turned, anger and hurt in her dark eyes.

"What would you know about it?" She spat, her hand resting on the gun on her hip.

Natalee's bloodshot eyes met hers, blood smeared over her eyelid from the gash on her eyebrow. "They were afraid of you... Of the both of you. But your brother started to rebel, didn't he? And then they...they made you kill him" Natalee spit another mouthful of blood to the side. "Why are you still working for them, Yelena?" Her voice was dark and hoarse. The woman, Yelena, closed her eyes and sighed. When they opened, they were softer.

"It's not that simple" She murmured, her hand slowly drifting away from her gun.

"We escaped. You could have too"

Yelena scoffed. "Escaped? Little girl, your team...your _family_ , they are being hunted down. You think this is going to stop? They are not going to stop until every last one of you is back in their control" She said.

A bloody smirk appeared on Natalee's bruised face, her eyes were heavy but she had to try to get Yelena on her side. "Then I'll bring them down with me. You think the threat...like that...is going to stop me?"

Yelena opened her mouth to say something but a noise from outside distracted her, causing her to turn her head briefly. She checked out into the passage way, slowly returning to the room. "There are people coming for you, yes?" She asked.

"Should be" Natalee said. Inside, she was proud of herself. Yelena had turned to her side. A knife suddenly hit the ground in front of her, piercing the floor. She looked up at the woman, who's own lips turned in a smirk. Natalee's watch was tossed next to the knife.

"I was never here" She said and left, leaving the door open.

 ***SCENE BREAK***

 _"Are you sure you don't need me there?"_ Billie asked. Every word dripped with worry. _"I can be there in like twenty minutes"_

Nikki sighed, lowering her binoculars. "I hate to say it but Natalee might not have twenty minutes. You probably know more about the Renegade than I do-"

 _"Exactly why I should be there"_

" _But_ is it really worth it to wait?" Nikki asked. There was a defeated sigh on the other end. "That's what I thought. Listen, I have D.J. on speed dial if things go wrong. He can be here with the whole Defenders team in like twenty _seconds_ " Tossing the binoculars aside, she climbed down the metal ladder, into the shadows of the storage units in the cargo port. There was a ship not far, the word _Turncoat_ painted on the side. Must be the Renegade. She took a deep breath. "Please don't be dead, Natalee" She whispered to herself as she broke into a run.

 **MEANWHILE...**

Natalee was limping, leaning more on the outside of her left foot. Her vision was a little blurry and her body felt like it was on fire. She left faded bloody footprints in her path. Blood dripped on the floor behind her, mixing with the water dripping off her hair. Her bare legs were bruised and littered with scrapes and cuts.

Her breathing sounded echoed in her head. Like it wasn't hers. Footsteps made her slow. She strained her ears. They were heavy, like boots, probably a Renegade guard. Stepping as quietly as she could, she wiped the mix of blood, sweat, and dirt from her eyes and peered around the corner. The guard was facing away from her. Natalee took a shaky breath and crept towards him. Her blood pounded in her ears and she could feel herself shaking. Though from fear or the cold, she couldn't tell.

Now a few feet away from him, she pushed herself to jump, plunging the knife into the back of his neck, covering his mouth with her hand. The guard fell to the ground with a thud. Glancing around quickly, she felt for his gun, finding it in a holster on his hip. Unclipping the cartridge, she had thirteen bullets. In the small area she was in, the gun would only attract more attention. Deciding to keep with her knife, she slipped the gun into her waistband and continued on.

 ***SCENE BREAK***

A gloved hand grabbed the railing of the Renegade cargo ship. Then another. Nikki pulled herself up, quickly canvassing the area like Sharon taught her. She pulled herself over the railing and hid within the shadows. Another deep breath and she crept along the wall. "Okay, Nikki, the ship isn't _that_ big. Finding Natalee should be _easy_ " She whispered and scoffed at herself. "Natalee, I swear, if you're aready dead, I will resurrect you like Jesus freaking Christ and kill you myself" She grumbled, pulling her gun. S.H.I.E.L.D. only issued rubber bullets to junior agents.

Ahead of her was a vent cover big enough for her to fit in. She swallowed hard, holstering her gun so she could easily move. Luckily the screws came off easily and she set the vent cover aside. "Hopefully this goes somewhere useful" She whispered as she slid into the cramped crawl space.

 ***SCENE BREAK***

Nikki quickly grabbed the vent cover before it could fall and create attention. She poked her head in, hanging upside down. It seemed to be a lab. Her eyebrows furrowed and she pulled herself up so she could lower feet first into the room.

There were vials of green liquid. She ran her gloved fingers over the glass of the case. There was the sound of a lock and she turned to the door as it opened a few inches. A muffled voice made her blood run cold.

 _"I'm just checking, thought I heard something"_ The voice called and she had just enough time to jump out of sight as the door opened all the way, now hiding behind one of the cabinets. An armed man slowly entered, his heavy boots echoing. The door closed behind him and Nikki slowly pulled her gun. Her sleeve caught a beaker and it fell to the floor, but didn't break. The man's head turned and Nikki silently cursed herself. She heard the click of the gun and took a deep breath. Thinking quickly, she shot the light above him. It disctracted him enough for her to jump over the counter, shooting him in the chest a couple times. It made him stumble, and drop his gun, but didn't take him out. She narrowly missed a punch, only to be grabbed by the back of her suit. He threw her against a table and she rolled out of the way as a knife hit the table where her head had been. She grabbed a microscope off the ground and threw it, hitting him in the head. The man fell back against a cabinet, lightly touching the spot on his head.

Seeing the blood only seemed to make him more angry. He pulled the knife he ran at Nikki and she kneed him in the kidney. The knife grazed her chest, just next to her collarbone. She grunted in pain and was jump kicked in the chest, sending the fifteen year old flying into a counter. The glass containers shattered around her, their contents spilling around her and glass getting in her hair.

The gun was back in his hand, aimed for her. Blood trickled down from his forehead and his nose, his eyes wild and angry. He was panting. Nikki winced as whatever was in the vials burned as it entered her bloodstream via the gash in her shoulder. She covered it with her hand, her heart pounding in her chest. But before he could pull the trigger, a knife pierced his hand.

The man screamed as he dropped the gun. A familiar head of red hair appeared in the doorway, a gun pointed at him. Natalee pulled the trigger, shooting him in the head. Blood pooled around his head as he lay dead on the floor.

"Natalee!" Nikki pulled herself to stand, her hand still over the gash in her shoulder. Her friend looked _terrible._ "Oh my god, you look awful" She ran over to help her stand. Natalee glanced in her reflection in the metal cabinets. It was the first time she had seen herself. She was covered in smeared blood, almost hiding the bruises that were scattered over her chest, arms, and legs. Her eyes were bloodshot and she was pale. Nikki carefully pulled one of Natalee's arms over her shoulder.

"Grab his gun" Natalee murmured, pointing to the man now dead on the floor. It smelled awful. A mix of blood and... _oh no_. Natalee's cloudy bloodshot eyes widened and she looked down at Nikki's now uncovered shoulder. There was a green gooey liquid around her wound. Natalee touched it with the pads of her fingers.

"Ow, Nat, I'm fine" Nikki insisted. But Natalee was staring at the goo on her fingers.

"We need to leave" She said quickly. "Grab his gun. We won't get out of here with rubber bullets"

"Natalee, I've never used-"

"First time for everything" Her friend said and pointed at the gun again. Nikki released the red head to grab the gun, returning to help Natalee stand up.

Natalee was feeling weaker, barely able to move her feet. She was leaning heavily on Nikki. The floor seemed to sway and everything sounded echoed. Definately a problem. "Let's get out of here" Nikki said. "If we can at least get on deck, I can call D.J."

"Who...else knows you're...you're here?" Natalee's words were slurred. Her eyelids drooped.

"No one. You told me not to say thing. Keep your eyes open, Nat, I can't carry you out of here" Nikki said as they left the lab.

 ***SCENE BREAK***

The two girls seemed to be lost in the maze of hallways. They had been taking out guards left and right. Nikki wasn't too sure where they were, having gotten in through a vent. "Do you know how to get out of here?" Nikki asked as they approached a turn. Natalee just grumbled and the brunette sighed. A guard turned the corner, gun in hand. Natalee tried to shoot at him, missing the first two shots. There was clicking. Her gun was empty.

A circular shield suddenly hit the wall, slicing the man's head off. His body slumped and his head rolled down across the floor, stopped by a black boot belonging to a male in a black suit much like Don's. Red sleeves, white star on his chest, a red fin on the helmet. He tore the shield from the wall, attaching it back to his arm. It was black with a big red star on it, the points coming off like tiny blades. _That's how the man's head was sliced off_ , Nikki thought to herself. She wouldn't be able to fight him with Natalee as injured as she was.

What surprised Nikki was Natalee's tone as she spoke. "You're late" She stated.

"You know him?" Nikki looked at her injured friend in shock.

"He's a...friend" Her bloody lips turned up in a tired smile.

"Is he here?" The male asked. Nikki figured he must be in his middle teens, judging by his voice.

"I don't know" Natalee shook her head. "Slavic Death let me go"

"I'm sorry, who is this?" Nikki asked.

"Red Guardian, but Cole is fine for a friend of Natalee's" The boy, Cole, said. "And you're Nikki" He said with a grin. There was running footsteps and two men rounded the corner. They stopped and pulled out knives. Cole turned and kicked the decapitated head like a soccer player shooting a ball. It flew towards the men, spraying blood on the floor and the walls. It hit the man on the right in the side of the head, causing him to hit the wall, and it hit the other man in the side of the head, causing the same reaction. The two men fell to the floor, unconcious.

"Nice shot" Natalee commented. Nikki looked at them like they were nuts. Natalee grunted quietly and slumped against Nikki, a wave of pain and weakness hitting her. Under his helmet, Cole's eyebrows furrowed.

"I'll carry her" He said, holding out his arms. Natalee protested quietly as he picked her up, carrying her bridal style. He held out his shield. "Take this"

Nikki shook her head. "You need that to protect her" She said. "Or at least, like, put it on your back so you don't get shot from behind"

Cole nodded. Natalee wrapped her arms around his neck so he could attach the shield to his back, similar to how it attached to his arm. He unclipped his helmet and pulled it off, a head of red hair falling over his eyes. He put the helmet on Natalee, brushing his hair from his face. "Just in case we get shot at from the front" He told Nikki, who nodded. Cole adjusted Natalee in his arms, who was fighting to stay awake.

 ***SCENE BREAK***

Surprisingly, the three managed to escape the Renegade ship undetected just before it left the dock. Nikki pulled her phone from her pocket. "Who are you calling?" Cole asked, setting Natalee on a crate. She pulled the helmet from her head, dropping it next to her and leaning back against the crates, watching the ship begin to pull away.

"A friend of mine, don't worry" Nikki said as her phone rang. "D.J., hey. I need you at my location right now. It's a long story, Natalee's really hurt and needs serious medical attention"

 _"What?"_

"What part of _long story_ and _Natalee needs serious medical attention_ did you not understand?" Nikki snapped.

 _"Shit. Sorry, sorry, I'm on my way right now"_ D.J. sounded like he was running so Nikki hung up. She sat next to Natalee, who was breathing slowly.

"Just hang on, Nat" She whispered, getting a nod from the red headed girl. Cole nudged Nikki's uninjured shoulder, nodding for her to follow him. They stepped away from their friend to talk.

Cole held his phone out. "I need your phone" He said. Nikki narrowed her eyes, unsure what to think. "I want updates on Natalee and I can't exactly risk coming to see her in Avengers Tower, now can I?"

Nikki sighed, opening a new contact and putting the phone in his hand. "I guess not. Natalee seems to trust you"

Cole didn't look up from the phone as he put in a number. "She seems to trust you too. That's hard to do with my kind of people, especially her. I'm going to think of you as a friend, someone who won't give me away" He handed it back. It was under the name _RG._

"As long as you don't kill anyone I know, I don't really care" Nikki admitted. There was the sound of a plane, though a plane didn't land next to them. It was D.J. in his Arsenal suit. Cole's hand rested against the gun on his thigh. "Easy, this is the guy I called. He's going to take Natalee back to Avengers tower" She explained. Cole's shoulders relaxed and he went to carefully pick Natalee up.

"Make sure she's taken care of" He said as he shifted Natalee into D.J.'s metal arms. The Stark boy carfully adjusted Natalee in his arms.

"No problem...whoever you are. Nikki, you need a lift too?" He turned to her.

"I'll meet you there" Nikki said. D.J. took off and headed for Avengers Tower. "I'm assuming you want to keep your help a secret?"

Cole sighed and picked up his helmet. "I only came out of the dark to help my partner. If her parents or S.H.I.E.L.D. found out she knew me, it could get her into trouble. And that's the last thing I want to do" He said. "Text me updates"

"Sure" Nikki nodded with a small awkward smile. He gave her a nod as he strapped his helmet back on and ran off into the shadows. Nikki's eyes narrowed as he disappeared. Hopefully he won't be a problem.

 **A/N: Guys this chapter is really long, go me**


	22. Chapter 22

**A/N: Who's ready for plot? MEEEEEE**

Natalee's grey eyes fluttered open. She was in an infirmary room in the tower, the only sounds being the heart rate monitor and the hum of machinery. She groaned quietly at the feel of the nasal cannula attached beneath her nose. Movement next to her made her flinch. "Easy, it's only me" Cole's voice was gruff, like he just woke up. "You've been asleep about a day and a half, your friend called me about an hour ago and asked if I could do anything" He pulled his phone from his pocket, quickly sending out a text, and tossing the device aside.

"How's Nikki?" Natalee tried to sit up, stopping when her muscles seized. Cole stood up, grabbing a spare pillow off the armchair, and helped her sit up more.

"I saw it too, don't worry, I'm keeping an eye on her" Cole assured her. "Part of the reason I agreed to come here so quickly" He dragged his chair over to straddle it, resting his arms on the back of it. "No symptoms yet but we should run a test when you're mobile just to be safe" He stuck the tip of his pinky in his ear to scratch it. He sighed, running a hand through his red hair. "Your accent's gone"

"Yeah. I got tired of being called a _Commie_ so I kinda trained myself to talk like the other kids. Some things are hard and I forget words" Natalee admitted. "Your accent's gone too" She smiled softly.

"A Russian accent is kinda easy to remember. It was safer to get rid of it" He shrugged. "Oh, there was a girl here earlier. Blonde hair, she was wearing a Star Wars shirt-"

"Billie's here?!" Natalee's expression brightened and she was about to sit up when another shot of pain shot through her. Cole chuckled. "What?"

"Nothing, it just...you know she has a-what's the word? Major? She has a major crush on you? Doesn't matter. She was freaked out when she got here. Is there something going on between you?" His head tilted, a smug smirk on his face. Natalee's face heated up.

"Th-There's nothing going on between me and Billie" She stammered.

The door slid open and Billie appeared in the doorway, looking dishelved and like she had sprinted up four flights of stairs. "Nat!" She ran in, nearly tackling the girl.

"Easy, she's still hurt" Cole said. He winked at Natalee. "Your probably hungry. I'll leave you two alone and go get something for you to eat" He got up to leave.

Billie sat up. "What the hell happened? Nikki tells me you two went to check out a lead on the Renegade? By yourselves?" She kept her voice lowered. "You could have had the decency to send me a text or something before you nearly got yourself killed" Her eyes narrowed.

"What could you have done, bird? You were in England and if I told you, you'd only freak yourself out worrying about me" Natalee said with a shrug. She paused, eyebrows furrowing. "Huh"

"What?"

"Nothing. Uh, my friend- the guy that just left- he said something about you...uh, about maybe something going on between...us" Natalee was stumbling over her words. "I dunno, I'm just rambling, this is probably totally weird, I don't know what I'm saying, you're straight, and we've been friends for years there's no way-"

"Natalee, I'm gay" Billie blurted out. Natalee shifted. She sniffed and ran a hand through her hair. Billie was afraid of her reaction. Hesitantly, the assassin rested a hand against Billie's cheek so that they were looking at eachother. "Nat" She whispered, her eyes glancing between her lips and her grey eyes. Usually they were cold, unfeeling. But Billie saw the feeling, the love, the emotion. Natalee drew a little closer, pausing every second or so to look into Billie's eyes, waiting for her to pull away. But then Billie moved forward and their lips met. A bit rocky at first with inexperience but still filled with love.

Billie pulled away and Natalee swallowed hard. Maybe the affection wasn't returned. "So...are you...?" Her whisper trailed off.

"Bi" Natalee whispered, her eyes focused on the birthmark on Billie's collarbone. "I'm willing to give this a shot if you are, bird"

"So like, girlfriends?" Billie asked, biting her lip in a smile.

"Yeah. Like girlfriends" Natalee laughed lightly.

A voice made them both jump. "FUCKING FINALLY!" Nikki shouted, her hands above her head in victory. "God, it was like so much flirting but only I was aware of it and it was _so frustrating_!" She exclaimed and gasped. "I have to tell D.J.!" She said and ran out.

"Nikki!" Natalee called after her.

"Let her go" Billie leaned in to peck her lips. "You scared the hell out of me, by the way" She murmured.

The red head grinned. "Maybe I should get kidnapped more often"

Billie snorted. "Don't be cute"

 ***SCENE BREAK***

Natalee's buzzed and she had reached to grab it when the door slid open and Natasha and Clint walked in. They looked relieved. She remembered Cole saying something about her being asleep for a couple days. "Hey" She said and tried to reach for her phone again but Natasha grabbed it first.

"You have a concussion. No screens until the doctor says it's okay, alright love?" She sat on the edge of the bed and kissed her temple.

"Yeah" Natalee sighed. She took her watch off and tossed it to Cole, who gave her the small bandanna to tie around her left wrist, still self-conscious about her tattoo even though her parents probably already saw it.

Clint narrowed his eyes at the strange boy. Since he arrived, he hadn't said who he was or how he knew Natalee. Nikki was the one to let him in. "So...who's this?" He asked.

"This is Cole. He's not dangerous, don't worry" Natalee used her teeth to tie the bandanna. "Well, no more dangerous than I am" She added with a smirk. "Cole, this is Clint Barton and Natasha Romanoff-"

"I knew I recognized her!" The red headed boy exclaimed. "Black Widow. You know, that's kind of ironic, her being your mom" He said to Natalee, who was giving him a death look. Cole turned to Natasha. "She idolized you when she was little" He said in a stage-whisper.

"You are lucky I'm unable to get out of bed on my own" Natalee growled at him. He just laughed and rolled his eyes.

Natasha looked skeptically at the well built seventeen year old boy, slipping her hand into Natalee's. "How do you know him?"

"We grew up together" Cole answered. "Trained together, fought together, escaped together. Actually, we came to America together but we got separated at the airport when S.H.I.E.L.D. attacked us" He explained.

Natalee looked at her parents, her grey eyes bright. "I almost forgot. I want Cole to stay with us"

Clint's eyes widened. "I'm sorry, what?"

"We got separated five years ago. And it's too dangerous for either of us to be on our own. He's my family too, so either he stays or I go with him" Natalee told them. Her thumb rubbed over the back of Natasha's hand. Clint looked at the boy.

"I didn't come up with this" Cole put his hands up. "Nat's not easy to argue with"

Natasha smiled softly. "We'll figure something out, bug. Don't worry" She assured their daughter.

Natalee grinned, her eyes seemed to sparkle, she looked at Cole and then back at Natasha. "Thanks, Mama" She blurted out without thinking. She felt the heat in her face and face palmed, trying to slouch as much as she could against the small mountain of pillows. Natasha gently squeezed her hand and kissed her cheek. Cole was grinning at her and she glared at him,

 ***SCENE BREAK***

Natalee was allowed to be out and about but she had to wear a knee brace and be on crutches. Her parents were reluctant to let Cole stay but after Natalee told them that either she leaves or he stays, they agreed to let the other assassin sleep in their guest room. It seemed to help her, Natalee was smiling more and she seemed more relaxed.

Natalee and Cole were sitting on the couch, Natalee's hurt leg resting over Cole's. "So what is this show about?" He asked. They were watching Steven Universe.

"Gay space rocks" She answered, grabbing a cherry out of the bowl on her lap. "Oh, before I forget, D.J. and Tara want to take a look at your gear. Surprisingly, they're pretty good at upgrading Angel Tech weapons" She said and spit the cherry pit at him, hitting him in the cheek.

"Gross, Nat. I thought Mami got you to stop that" He rubbed the spit from his cheek and tossed the cherry pit into the bowl on the coffee table. Natalee's smile faltered.

"I try not to throw that word around so loosely. They don't know about anything there" She said quietly. Cole lightly patted her shin, giving her a small nod. Natalee ran her hand through her hair, looking at her former assassin partner. "I want to tell them, you know, but it's hard"

"Yeah. I hear that. Some things you don't want to bring back up. And you don't have to tell them everything, Natalee. From what I've seen, they want to know you" He smiled softly. "Okay, what is this game you were telling me about earlier? Battle...something"

"Star Wars Battlefront. Billie got if for me" Natalee moved her leg off his lap to stand up.

Cole put his hand up. "No, you stay where you are. The less you move, the faster you heal. Stay, I'll put the game on, just tell me where" He stood up. Natalee noted the scars scattered along his arms and sighed quietly while he looked through the games that were sitting on the coffee table. "This one?" He held up the Star Wars game.

"Yeah. Put it in the Xbox" Natalee reached to grab a controller while he put the game in. Maybe he was right. Her parents wanted to know her like Cole did. She just had to get better at opening up.

 **A/N: Yayayayayay the plot is finally rolling. I'm excited**


	23. Chapter 23

**A/N: I edited the entire story so Natalee, Billie, and Nikki are all fifteen. Thirteen just felt really young to me now that my sister is thirteen so...it won't** _ **really**_ **affect anything. Everyone's just slightly older. Sorry if that's annoying. Anywho, on with the plot!**

D.J. was sitting in his rolling arm chair when the door to the lab opened. He heard the sound of Natalee's crutches hitting the floor but a second pair of footprints made him turn. "Ah, Natalee's guard dog! I was taking a look at that shield of yours. Whoever designed this is a genius. It's so light weight and, what is this? Vibranium? Where the hell did you even get Vibranium?" He asked.

"Not why we're here, D.J." Natalee said with a small laugh. "You looked into Nikki's test results right?" She asked.

D.J. sighed and ran a hand through his dark brown hair. "You two are both _very_ cryptic and it's _annoying_ " He poked Natalee at the emphasised words, who batted his hands away and glared at him. "But I did compare her results with a sample of Natalee's-"

"He needed to compare her blood with a sample that accepted the serum" Natalee whispered to Cole.

"And I don't see any problems. Whatever _serum_ Nikki has in her system doesn't seem to be dangerous but you two would probably know more about this than me-"

Cole cut him off. "What's this?" He gestured to a part of the screen.

"I'm getting to that...I have no idea what this is. Her cells are weirdly mutated, it'll take some digging to find anything related" D.J. said and looked at Cole. "Would you mind if I upgraded some stuff in your suit? The wiring is a little old and it would probably help if nothing suddenly malfunctioned" He pulled Cole's helmet closer to him. Cole shrugged, his curly hair falling into his eyes. Natalee nudged his foot with her crutch. The taller red head leaned closer to her.

"I'm going to go find Billie. Let her know what's going on" She whispered. He nodded and she hobbled out.

 ***SCENE BREAK***

Natalee stepped off the elevator onto the Lewis' floor. Darcy was helping Jane with something science-y. The sound of someone throwing up caught her attention and she dropped the crutches where they were, running as well as she could down the hall and into Nikki's room, making a beeline for her bathroom. Nikki was sitting against the wall. She was pale and sweaty, her eyes bloodshot. There was something that looked like ink splattered by her mouth. She looked at Natalee, her chest heaving.

"What...the fuck" Her voice was hoarse.

Natalee smiled awkwardly and sat on the floor next to her. She pulled Nikki's hair from her face. "On the bright side, your cells seem to be accepting the Project"

"This sucks" Nikki grumbled. Natalee couldn't bite back the snort that escaped. "Yeah, keep laughing, I'll be throwing up on you next" She wiped the ink looking gunk from the corner of her lips. "Why does it look like this?" She asked.

"No one really knows. Something about the Project modifying cells and the waste left over looks like a mix of ink and slime" Natalee pulled stray hairs into the makeshift ponytail. "The throwing up should stop soon. It usually only lasts about a day. Kinda like the flu" She shrugged. " _And_ you'll get some sort of enhancement so that'll be fun"

Nikki threw up again and Natalee's grey eyes looked away. Her friend panted for a moment before sitting up. "You said enhancements?" She asked, running the back of her hand across her mouth. Natalee grabbed a washcloth from the cabinet and ran it under the sink so Nikki could wipe the vomit from her hands. "Is that going to hurt?"

"It hurts when I heal myself, kind of a burning feeling. But you never know, the Project is unpredictable" Natalee handed her friend the wet rag. She swallowed hard, running her fingers through her hair and bringing her voice down. "Listen, I know this is alot to deal with but this needs to stay between you, me, Cole, and D.J.. The last thing we need right now is the Avengers asking a whole bunch of questions"

Nikki nodded, tossing the rag in the sink, splattering Natalee with drops of water. "I get it, Nat. You've got secrets you'd like to keep hidden. But when these _enhancements_ come and I can't hide them, you need to come up with something. The whole thing, part of the truth, or a very well thought out lie, I don't care. Just have something thought out" She sat against the wall, tilting her head back and closing her eyes.

"Need anything?" Natalee asked. "Water? Something to eat?"

Nikki shook her head. "Nah, I'm fine. I think it's done" She looked at her curly haired friend. "So...you and Billie are finally a thing" She smiled, her eyes tired and her face pale.

Natalee scoffed and rolled her eyes at her friend's smug smile. "How long have you been rooting for us to get together?" She asked.

"Since you crashed into eachother. I've been a Batalee fan since day one" Nikki shrugged. "Can you fill that cup with water? My mouth tastes like vomit" She pointed to the cabinet. Natalee shifted onto her knee, the hurt one off to the side.

"Batalee? Seriously, you have a name for us?" Her nose wrinkled as she handed the glass of water over. She sighed when she sat back down. "When should I tell my parents that I have a girlfriend?" Natalee's head tilted.

Nikki snorted. "I'd wait on that bit, Nat. They're probably going to be super protective _anyway_ , no need to give them something else to worry about" She took the hairtie from Natalee's wrist and pulled her hair up in a ponytail. "What are you still doing here? Go, I'll be fine. I'll text you updates later" Nikki shooed her. Her friend rolled her eyes as she laughed and stood up, using the counter to pull herself to her feet. "Use your crutches!" Nikki called after her.

 ***SCENE BREAK***

Natasha looked over her shoulder when she heard the clicks of Natalee's crutches. "Hey" She said, no emotion in her voice. Natalee dropped the crutches when she was within a few feet of the couch and hobbled the rest of the way to the armchair.

"I was hoping we could talk about what happened in the infirmary" Natalee curled up in the armchair, her hurt knee stretched out in front of her.

Natasha's head tilted and she muted the TV. "Which part? The part where you snuck out, got kidnapped, and came home with fractured bones and a bullet in your knee? Or the part where you brought a S.H.I.E.L.D. fugative home?" She asked, her eyebrow raising a fraction.

Natalee nibbled on her lip. _Oh, she's mad._ "Uh, actually, I was thinking about the part where I called you _Mama_ but yeah, we can talk about that first" She said awkwardly. "Uh, so there's alot that happened before I came to S.H.I.E.L.D. and I don't want to get you or Clint involved. Nikki and Billie know _some_ stuff because I've lived with them, because I trust them. And as for Cole, I was a S.H.I.E.L.D. fugative too" She shrugged, playing with the frayed edges of her sweatshirt sleeves.

Her mother sighed, running a hand through her short red hair. "I didn't even know you left until D.J. suddenly took off. When I went to check on you, and you weren't there, it was like when you were a baby. There was a moment where I thought I lost you" Her voice trembled the slightest towards the end. Natalee thought for a moment. She feld kinda bad. Losing a kid has to be hard. Swallowing hard, she pushed herself to her feet and sat on the couch next to Natasha, throwing her arm over her stomach.

"I'm sorry, Mama" She said quietly. Natasha laughed lightly, hugging her daughter to her chest. She pressed her nose into Natalee's curls. "It's hard" Natalee murmured. "Opening up, I mean. Billie says I'm impulsive, that I just react without thinking about it" She shifted so she could look at her mother. "So...is this okay? Calling you _Mama_ and calling Clint _Papa_?" She asked awkwardly.

Natasha hugged her tightly, pressing kisses to her face. "Of _course_ it's okay, bug" She laughed when Natalee groaned dramatically. "And your dad is going to be thrilled to hear you call him _Papa_ " She smiled.

Natalee grinned. "Mama, you're squishing me" She said in a strained voice. Her mother kissed her nose and released her.

 **A/N: Aw, a cute ending :D**


	24. Chapter 24

**A/N: I haven't been feeling too well but I'll try to make updates more frequent**

The elevator doors dinged and slid opened as Cole strutted out, Natalee on his back. D.J. turned to start talking, stopping and giving them a weird look. Cole set the girl on her feet.

"I don't feel like walking" Natalee shrugged like it was obvious.

"What did you want to show us?" Cole asked, crossing his muscular arms over his equally muscular chest. The ends of his hair fell into his eyes, casting a shadow over his emerald orbs.

D.J. stared at him for a moment. He shook his head. "Right" He turned back to his screen, his fingers blurs as he tapped away on the keyboard. "So, I did some cross checking, you know, seeing if we had anything similar to what I found in Nikki's blood in our files _and_...I found something" D.J. leaned back in his chair, a proud smile on his face. The two red headed assassins leaned forward, their eyes narrowing and their left eyebrows twitching the same way. D.J. bit his lip to keep from laughing.

"Captain America? The only thing similar is Captain America?" Natalee turned to look at their genius friend. "I don't get it" Her head tilted.

Cole spoke, making them both turn. "She has the Super Soldier Serum" He said, not looking away from the screen. "That would mean they're related, right?" He looked at D.J.

"Uh, yeah. But I didn't understand how. Lucky for me, running a paternal D.N.A. test isn't that hard-"

Natalee's grey eyes widened. "Steve Rogers is Nikki's father?" She glanced at Cole, who shrugged. The girl groaned quietly, rubbing the bridge of her nose. "There is no way Nikki knows so until she figures it out for herself or her parents tell her, this secret dies with us" She looked between the two boys. "Got it? Say one one word and I put an arrow through your knee" She threatened with glaring eyes.

D.J. looked at Cole. "Was she always this aggressive?" He asked. Cole snorted in laughter and nodded, getting a punch to the arm from his partner.

 ***SCENE BREAK***  
 **LATER THAT DAY...**

Since Billie had been flown in after hearing about Natalee getting hurt, she decided to stay a couple days with Nikki, then fly back to rejoin her family and finish their vacation. Currently, Natalee and Billie were in Natalee's room, Natalee's head in her girlfriend's lap. Billie had her fingers tangled in Natalee's red curls. "Hows your leg, red?" She asked softly. Natalee's grey eyes cracked open.

"Fine. An enhanced healing factor does wonders for the recovery" Natalee said, a smirk playing on her lips. She heard the sharp inhale of her girlfriend laughing, probably rolling her eyes. "I'm sorry" Natalee said. Billie's head tilted. "For scaring you. Even though you were overseas in London, I should have called you, told you what I was doing"

Billie's eyebrow lifted and she smirked. " _Well_ , you could make it up to me. After all, our first kiss _was_ interrupted-" Billie squeaked in surprise when Natalee suddenly sat up, flipping over so she was sitting on her good knee. A small giggle escaped Billie's mouth when Natalee leaned forward to kiss her.

 ***SCENE BREAK***

Clint and Natasha were snuggled together on the couch, Clint's arms around his wife while Natasha flipping through channels. "What time is it?" He asked in a sleepy voice.

"Almost time for dinner. Natalee said something about wanting pizza tonight, can you go ask the girls if they want anything specific on it?" Natasha asked and smiled. With a sigh, Clint got up from the couch and disappeared down the hall.

He knocked lightly on the door before opening it. "Papa!" Natalee exclaimed in surprise as Billie jumped away from her. They both looked like deers in headlights, their eyes wide, hair a little dishevled. Clint quickly closed the door, a little in shock from what just happened. Luckily, they had both been fully clothed.

Natasha looked up from her laptop when Clint walked back in. "Did they want anything on it?" She asked and noticed his stunned expression. "What's wrong?"

"Natalee would have told us if she was dating, right?" He asked.

"I'm not sure. Why? What happened? Did you walk in on them ha-"

"God, no" Clint sighed, sitting on one of the stools. "They were just...I dunno, do people still use the term _making out_ anymore?" He ran his fingers through his short blonde hair in frustration.

"Natalee and Billie?" Natasha raised an eyebrow.

"Yes! What do we do? Do we talk to them about it? What if they want to have...you know... _relations_ " He stopped and gasped. "Do you think they've already-"

"Clint, they're fifteen. I don't think they've had se-"

"Don't say it!" Clint all but shouted. "Natalee's our baby. I didn't think we had to worry about this yet!"

Footsteps caught their attentions and Natalee and Billie entered the kitchen. "So...uh..." Natalee reached behind her and Billie took her hand. "I'm bi, I like boys _and_ girls, and this is my lesbian girlfriend, Billie" She said awkwardly. "This is new for us too"

Her parents didn't say anything for a moment, just stared at them. Natasha cleared her throat, glancing at the computer screen. "Uh, your dad was going to ask if you wanted anything on the pizza" She said, scratching the back of her neck.

"Uh, sausage and pepperoni?" Natalee asked hopefully. Her mother nodded and her attention turned to the laptop. Clint's eyes narrowed at the two girls. To Clint, no one was good enough for his daughter.

Cole walked into the kitchen. His green eyes narrowed, looking at Billie and Natalee's fingers laced together. A smirk appeared on his face and he winked at Natalee, who rolled her eyes and flipped him off.

"Natalee Victoria" Natasha chastised instinctively. Billie snorted.

"Victoria? That's your middle name?" She asked, smiling at her red haired girlfriend. Natalee looked between her parents. Natasha looked a little stunned, not meaning for Natalee's full name to roll off her tongue so easily.

"I didn't have a middle name" Natalee said slowly. "Is that what it was going to be? Victoria?" She asked.

Clint nodded, chuckling lightly. "Natalee Victoria Romanoff-Barton. You last name was going to be hyphenated like your mom" He nodded to Natasha.

Billie kissed Natalee's cheek. "It's cute. Fits you" She whispered. Natalee felt her face heat up and she leaned into Billie's shoulder. Cole had a smug look on his face. He moved around the island to whisper something to the younger red head. The blush on Natalee's face darkened.

"N-No! We weren't! W-We haven't!" She stammered, totally flustered. Cole started laughing. "Jackass, that's not funny!" She called after him as he dodged her attempt to punch him.

 ***SCENE BREAK***

Dinner had gone by fine. They decided to watch a movie while eating their pizza, Mad Max: Fury Road. It was pretty late when the movie finished and Natalee went down the elevator with Billie to Nikki's place, coming back disheveled and a little dazed, in a happy way.

Natalee yawned as her bedroom door opened again and her parents entered. Natasha sat on the edge of the bed while Clint took the desk chair next to her bed. "So how long have you and Billie been together romantically?" She asked. Clint's eyes narrowed protectively.

Natalee bit back her laugh at the phrase. "Not long. Uh, when she came to the infirmary, we, uh, we kissed. But if you ask Nikki, she'll say we've been dating for like four years" She shrugged. There was a pause. Natalee's voice softened. "I really like her"

Natasha smiled. "She seems like a good kid" She said, looking at Clint. The Russian leaned forward to kiss her forehead. "Goodnight, bug" She murmured, smoothing down a few of her daughter's curls. Clint ruffled her hair, kissing her nose.

"Come get us if you need us, bug, okay?" He whispered.

"Why do you call me _bug_?" Natalee's head tilted.

Her mother nibbled on her lip for a moment and she glanced at her husband. "I think we have a picture of it somewhere but we had this red onesie with black dots on it. Made you look like a lady bug. Your dad started calling you _ladybug_ and it just ended up getting shorted to _bug_ " She shrugged. "I don't notice when I do it sometimes"

"It's fine. I don't mind" Natalee yawned and shifted onto her side. "Night, guys"

Natasha kissed her cheek and stood up. "Love you"

Clint followed suit, saying "Love you, kid" as he stood to follow his wife.

Once the door closed, a smile appeared on Natalee's face. "Love you too" She whispered.

 **A/N: I know, a new chapter almost right after the last one. I shock myself sometimes**


	25. Chapter 25

**A/N: *finger guns***

 _Natalee's grey eyes blinked open. She was standing in a dirty, rundown apartment. A chain was linked to the middle of the floor. "Oh fuck" She whispered to herself, recognizing where she was._

 _"Oh, not happy to see me?" A smooth voice asked. Natalee turned, eyes narrowing, arms crossing over her chest. In front of her, with her wrist shackled to the chain, was a girl that looked identical to Natalee, except for her hair and her eyes. The girl's hair was darker than Natalee's, not as curly. And the whites of her eyes were solid black, the iris a luminous blue._

 _"What do you want, Archer?" Natalee growled. Archer was the name Natalee had started calling the artificial personality. It was like Bruce Banner and the Hulk._

 _Archer mocked a pout as she took a few steps towards Natalee. "Can't I say hi? I haven't seen you in, what?, six years? You're not exactly easy to contact" She paused, tracing the pad of her finger along Natalee's jaw. "Well, not anymore now that you've stopped taking those pills. You're running out, aren't you? Not enough to keep me quiet"_

 _"Doesn't answer my question" Natalee stepped away from her, closer to the wall._

 _The darker red head narrowed her eyes and Natalee was shoved against the wall with a grunt. Archer's nails dug into her throat and her lips hovered by her ear. Her voice was dark, smooth, and threatening. "I hope you enjoy being in control, Natalee, because when I'm done with you, you'll be begging for me to run the show" She whispered._

Natalee gasped as she woke, sitting up. She was shaking, a few rebel tears escaping and falling down her face. She felt blood below her nose. "Shit" She whispered and got out of bed.

 ***SCENE BREAK***

Cole had gotten up to get a drink, barefoot in sweatpants and a black tanktop. He noticed the door to the balcony was open, his eyebrows furrowing, the hair on the back of his neck rising. Natalee was leaning against the railing, her fingers tangled in her hair. "Natalee" He said softly. "Hey, what's going on, _sestrenka_?" He asked, gently rubbing her back.

Natalee sniffed and looked at him. "Don't freak out" She said quietly and pulled her bottom eyelid down and looked up. The whites of her eyes were turning black.

"Archer?" Cole's emerald eyes widened and darkened. "She's back?" He growled.

"I think she's planning something. I'm running low on those pills Cross made to keep her quiet" She sighed, leaning against the railing and crossing her arms over her chest. "You're the only one that knows about her. If I can't find a way to get more of those pills-"

"No" Cole shook his head. "I won't do it"

"Cole. If Archer takes control, she'll kill everyone. You know that" Natalee's voice was starting to shake.

"We're not going to let that happen. And I mean _we_ , Natalee. No secrets between us, that's the rule, remember? Shadows don't do that to eachother. And for all we know, we're the only active Shadows left" He said.

Natalee shrugged. "I'm not too sure about that" She sighed.

Cole's eyebrow lifted. "What's that supposed to mean?" He asked.

"A while ago, I was on a mission with the Defenders, the Avengers' kids. It was supposed to be easy, just an intel mission. But there were Renegade soldiers, talking about something that went down in Serbia. I slipped, gave away my position, and I was about to be shot when the guy holding the gun was hit by this bullet. An _acid_ bullet" She said. Her eyes narrowed. "How many snipers do you know use acid bullets?"

Her tall friend nodded. "You think Nessa's alive" He swallowed hard. "Have you looked into this yet?"

"No, I haven't gotten the chance. Between my knee injury and the assassin parents, I don't really have alot of time to go sneaking around" She shrugged. "Are you offering?" She added with a smirk.

Cole chuckled, flipping his hair from his face. "If you're sure Nessa's alive, I'll be your errand boy. Tell me what you find, I'll see what I can do" He reached out to ruffle her hair. "Go to bed, shorty"

Natalee snorted as he walked away. "That was just rude and uncalled for and you know it" She called after him.

 ***SCENE BREAK***

Clint yawned as he wandered into the kitchen, his nose wrinkling at the delicious smell that floated through their home. "Hey" Natalee greeted with a smile. "Cole made breakfast" She nodded to the red headed boy.

"No big deal" The corner of Cole's lips curled in a smile. "After all, Natalee made you keep me" He chuckled. "Least I could" He placed a plate in front of Clint. There were scrambled eggs with pieces of ham and spinach mixed in, bacon, and little chocolate chip pancakes.

Clint inhaled deeply. "Letting you live here was a good decision after all" He said to himself and grabbed a fork.

 ***SCENE BREAK***

D.J. yawned and rubbed his eyes, staring at the screen. He turned his head, jumping in surprise when he saw someone standing next to him. "Jesus, Nat!" He exclaimed. "Can you stop being a ninja for like two minutes? I am not awake enough for this"

Natalee laughed lightly and put a small plate of chocolate chip pancakes in front of him. "A little _spasibo_ for helping me and Cole" She shrugged, leaning against the desk.

"What happened to your crutches?" His eyebrows furrowed.

The red headed girl grinned. "Perks of my own mutated DNA. Faster healing rate. As long as I wear the brace, no crutches" She paused, tilting her head at the way D.J.'s hair was flattened at an odd angle. "Were you up all night?" She asked.

"You're looking for your missing assassin friend. I just got lost in a research loop" D.J. waved dismissively and popped a bit of pancake in his mouth. "I have a question. And I totally understand if you don't want to answer" He said. Natalee raised an eyebrow. "So the only link with Serbia is traces of this suborganization" He pulled up a window on his computer. "The name of it was here a second ago" He mumbled.

"The Renegade" Natalee said.

"Yeah-okay, that kind of sets up another question" D.J. said. "You were part of the Renegade? That's where you came from before S.H.I.E.L.D.?"

Natalee sighed, sucking her bottom lip under her teeth. "I was. But it got too dangerous and my team was snuck out. Our friend that was in Serbia was sent there about a year and a half before we escaped. They told us she died but...I'm not too sure" She sniffed and brushed her hair away from her face. "Wait a minute" Her head raised as an idea struck her. "Can you scan something?"

D.J. blinked her. "Uh, y-yeah. I can take a picture with my phone-" He stopped, eyes wide, when Natalee unclipped her watch from around her wrist, revealing a red scope tattoo on the inside of her wrist. "No way. Is that real?" He asked. "Wait, does Cole have this tattoo too? Is that why you two always had something on your wrist-? God, that was so obviously suspicious!" He smacked himself in the face.

"Less...whatever _this_ is-" Natalee gestured to his face. "-and more helping me find my friend"

D.J. picked up his phone. "Right, right, sorry. But I better get some tattoo buddy stories" He said, grabbing Natalee's wrist to take a picture of it. It appeared on the computer screen and the boy genius ran it through a recognition software. Natalee laughed, rolling her eyes, as she clipped her watch back on. The boy sat back in his chair, sighing quietly.

"What is it?" She asked softly, eyebrow twitching.

D.J. met her grey eyes. "We need to talk about Nikki"

 **A/N: Ahaha cliff hanger. Sorry not sorry :D**


	26. Chapter 26

**A/N: Hey look at me, updating. :D Reviews are encouraged.**

Natalee shifted uneasily. "What about Nikki?" Her eyebrows were knitted together and her pupils were small. To be honest, D.J. found the expression a little intimidating.

"She was asking about the serum, the-" He snapped his fingers while he tried to remember the word. "the _Project_. Wanted to see what we found. She was curious. And she asked about her cells being different even before the serum" He paused, swallowing hard. "I didn't know what to tell her so I didn't say anything. She knows something's up" He shrugged. Natalee's eyes closed in agitation. She rubbed the bridge of her nose. "What if you talk to Nikki's mom? She seems pretty cool, maybe she can help come up with something" D.J. looked at the screen. "Looks like a pretty decent lead with your tattoo"

Natalee nodded, smiling softly. She scrubbed her hand through her hair and took a few steps towards the elevator. "Oh, D.J.?" She turned. The boy turned in his swivel chair. "If you ever need me to do soemthing like sneak in and steal files from a secure tech facility or break someone's knees, let me know. I'd like to think of you as a friend" She said.

D.J. grinned at her. "I would be honored to be your friend, Natalee"

The red headed girl smiled.

 ***SCENE BREAK***

Darcy was in the lab with Jane Foster when Natalee wandered in. "Hey! Merida!" Darcy smiled. She was what Billie called a _fun mom_. "What's up, curly fry?"

"I was hoping I could talk to you about something" Natalee said awkwardly, glancing at Jane. The astrophysicist smiled gently at Darcy and stepped out of the room. Natalee's eyes followed her. "It's about Nikki" She said quietly. Darcy visibly tensed. "Don't worry, she's not in danger or anything. Well, not anymore" Natalee shrugged. She pulled a flashdrive from her pocket and nodded to the computer, silently asking if she could use it.

"Y-Yeah, go ahead" Darcy nodded.

"Uh, so a few days ago, Nikki had a hand in rescuing me off of a boat-long story. Anyway, this serum got into her system called the Project and-"

"Wait, what? Nikki never told me anything about this"

Natalee shifted uneasily. "Yeah...we asked her not to. The people that designed it aren't exactly the nicest and we didn't want more people involved than need be" She rubbed her nose. "I'm sorry, we didn't want to worry anyone until D.J. got all the information"

"So Nikki has some dangerous serum and you're just telling me about this now?!" Darcy exclaimed.

"It's more complicated than that" Natalee's attitude turned more defensive. She turned the laptop. "The only reason Nikki survived the serum was because of _this_. D.J. did some digging and it's the _Super Solder Serum_. The only other person with this kind of half-strain of the serum is Don. Which would mean Don and Nikki have to be related" She stopped and took a breath, her shoulders relaxing. "Does Nikki know about this?" She asked quietly.

Darcy sighed. "No. Neither of them do" She ran her hands through her hair.

"Nikki's asking questions. I feel like this kind of news would come better from her mom" Natalee said softly, tilting her head.

"I-I have to talk to Steve about this. I don't...I don't even know what I'm going to say. Wait, what does the serum do?"

Natalee swallowed. "We, uh...don't actually know that quite yet?" She looked at the screen. "From what I know- and it's not alot- there's a possibility of there being multiple mutations" She shrugged and paused, rubbing the pads of her fingers with her thumb, her bottom lip pulled under her teeth. When she spoke again, her words were quicker. "I don't know how many, we're still waiting on someone I know who knows more about this than me"

Darcy took her glasses off her face to rub the bridge of her nose. "I knew this would come back to bite me in the ass" She grumbled. "I'll talk to her. To both of them, her and Don" She said. Natalee nodded, a thought running through her head.

 _Good luck Nikki._

 ***SCENE BREAK***  
 **Later that night...**

 _When Natalee came to, she was standing in a small room. Concrete walls, a large metal door. Like a small warehouse. A choking noise made her head turn and she saw a small figure slumped over, face hidden by shadows. There was a pool of blood around them. Cautiously approaching the bleeding person, she knelt down. A hand shot out and grabbed her wrist. It was Billie. "Bird?!" Natalee exclaimed, grey eyes growing wide. She couldn't see where the blood was coming from, it was like the blood was just appearing. "Billie, who did this to you?" Natalee asked._

 _Billie heaved, her breathing thick with the blood in her lungs. "Y-You" She whispered and vanished. Archer appeared in front of Natalee, a smirk on her face. A gun pressed to her chin and fired._

Natalee gasped when she woke up, the sound of the gun firing echoing in her ears. She was shaking. The sound of Archer's dark laugh still haunted her. She felt around in the dark for her phone, barely able to dial a number.

 _"Nat?"_ Billie sounded groggy, half-asleep.

"Bird" Natalee sobbed out.

There was a pause, the sound of movement in the background. _"I'll be right there, red"_ She said and hung up.

 ***SCENE BREAK***

Natalee was sitting on the floor, knees pulled to her chest, tears running down her face but her expression blank. Her door opened, making her flinch, and Billie ran in. She dropped to her knees next to her girlfriend. "Nat" She whispered, gently brushing her curls away from her face. Natalee flinched. "Hey, it's okay. It's just me" She said quickly, catching Natalee's wrist. "It's me, I'm here. You're okay" She smiled assuringly. Natalee visibly swallowed and nodded. She shifted closer, into Billie's arms. A sigh of relief left the red head's lungs when she heard her girlfriend's heartbeat. Her fingers gripped the back of Billie's shirt.

"Bird" Natalee whispered.

"Yeah, red, it's me" Billie murmured against her hair. She always worried whenever Natalee woke up from a nightmare. Sometimes she didn't know where she was, or her mind played tricks on her and she saw someone else. But hearing the nickname made her chest feel not as tight. Maria had tried to get Natalee to go see someone, a therapist, and Billie encouraged her to go. But Natalee refused the help, insisting she was fine. That this was just how she was. And she had Billie and Maria and Nikki to go to. Billie had told her that she'd always be there for her, no matter what.

Natalee sniffled, content with feeling Billie breathe, hearing her heart beat. She was alive. She was okay. She was fine. Billie was always going to be there for her, she said so. Guilt clawed at the pit of Natalee's stomach. Her girlfriend, her beautiful, amazing girlfriend, followed her loyally. Billie trusted her. And she didn't tell Billie everything. At first, when she decided to keep things a secret, it was to protect the blonde. But as everything seemed to evolve, finding her parents, Nikki getting the Project, and Cole coming to live with them, it was more dangerous to keep Billie in the dark.

"Bird?" Natalee whispered.

"Hm?" Her girlfriend wasn't asleep, just had her eyes closed. Natalee swallowed hard and sat up. She brushed her curls over to one side of her face. Billie was sitting forward, a worried expression on her face. "What's wrong?" She asked, gently taking her girlfriend's hand.

Natalee's voice was dark and a little hoarse, like when she was either trying to be intimidating or trying not to cry. "Remember when I told you about the Project?" She asked.

"Yeah" Billie tilted her head so she could see Natalee's face.

"I was given another serum. It was experimental...I'm not even sure what it really was. But it created this _thing_ " Natalee paused, taking a shakey breath. "She's a monster with a bloodlust. Kind of like Dr. Banner's relationship with the Hulk. She's not me" Her eyebrows furrowed. "I took these pills that a friend made to help me stay in control. But I'm starting to run out so I stopped taking them as frequently" She swallowed hard, her throat tightening. "A-And it's like everytime I go to sleep, she's there, messing with my head. Making me see things, telling me she's going to kill everyone and it'll be my fault" Tears stung in her eyes.

"That's why you called me? She made you see something?" Billie whispered, brushing a stray tear away with her thumb. "Why didn't you tell me about this before?" She asked.

Natalee finally looked up at her. "I didn't want you to be afraid of me" She admitted, her voice wavering. The blonde pulled her into her arms, leaning against the side of the bed. Natalee clung to her as she struggled to keep herself together.

"It's okay, Natalee" She whispered, kissing her head. "You know, you're too cute to be afraid of" She added. There was a laugh from her curly haired girlfriend, muffled by her chest. Billie smiled.

 ***SCENE BREAK***

The sun shone through the windows. Natalee was stretched out on her stomach, arms above her head, Billie's legs resting on her hips. The two had moved to the bed a few hours earlier, sleeping a little bit. "I might have to leave soon" Natalee said softly. "If there's a lead on finding a friend of mine, Cole and I are going to follow it" She turned her head to meet Billie's eyes.

"A friend?" Billie shifted against the pillows. "Nat, I don't know, are you sure you should be running around like that? After what _just_ happened?" She ran her nails gently over Natalee's stomach, causing her girlfriend to squirm and getting a glare. Surprisingly, the red headed assassin was ticklish. "There is no way your parents are letting you out of here" Billie smirked at her, poking her belly button.

Natalee smacked her hand away. "Did you forget that I was an assassin?" Her eyebrow raised.

The blonde rolled her eyes. "So are your parents, Nat"

Natalee sat up, Billie's legs falling to her lap. "They don't know what I'll do" She shrugged. "I could use this to my advantage. Remember when I tried to escape from S.H.I.E.L.D.?" A proud smile appeared on her face.

Billie laughed at the memory, running her fingers through Natalee's curls. "Yeah, Nikki called you a freaky ninja. You going to go all freaky ninja on your parents if you have to find your friend?"

"If I have to" Natalee purred, her lips curling into a smile. "If I did, would you tackle me like you did the last time?" She asked, the tip of her freckled nose brushing against Billie's. Billie's laugh was darker, a little seductive, as she leaned forward. She gently lifted Natalee chin as their lips met.

 **A/N: Lemme know what you think of Billie/Natalee (so graciously named Batalee by my friend).**


	27. Chapter 27

**A/N: My class ended like two weeks before the term does. One less deadline I have to worry about :D**

Nikki glanced at Don sitting next to her, an annoyed and disinterested expression on his face. "What is this, Dad?" He asked with a sigh.

Darcy swallowed hard and Nikki's head tilted. She had never seen her mother so...nervous. "Mom?" Her blue eyes were soft and worried. A weird tingly feeling went through her fingers but she brushed it off.

Steve took a breath and started. "So...some things have happened. Nikki, you have this serum now. And, uh, from what your mom has told me..." He trailed off, unsure how to continue and looked at Darcy.

"Natalee came to me, said you were asking questions about the serum" Darcy started wringing her hands. "There's another serum that you've had for a while and without it, you would have died. That other serum, the Project? She said your body wouldn't have accepted it"

"What...what other...?" Nikki's eyes widened as the dots connected. "You're talking about the Super Soldier Serum"

Don spoke up. "Wait, what does that mean?"

Nikki's head turned to look at him. "It means we're related, you dope!" She snapped. Darcy sighed, rubbing the bridge of her nose. The tingling in her fingers was more noticable and she rubbed her fingers against her palms. "Why didn't you tell us before?!"

"Nikki-" Steve started.

"Not talking to you!" The girl snarled at him, her eyes flashing. She stood up. "Mom, I've asked about my father multiple times!" Her voice rose as anger surged through her. "You always told me he wasn't coming back, that he wanted nothing to do with me! Do you have any idea how awful that made me feel? Thinking that my own father hated me?!" There were angry tears in her eyes.

"I never said that" Darcy countered. "I told you it was complicated and your dad wasn't around. When you asked when he'd be back, I said I didn't know"

Don looked to his father. "Why didn't you tell us?" He asked.

Steve hesitated, staring wide-eyed at their enraged daughter. He shook his head and cleared his throat. "It was...it was dangerous. People were coming after you two because of me" He said and his eyes met his son's. "You were already showing signs of the affects of the Super Soldier Serum so we figured it was best if Darcy took your sister and I took you"

Nikki fought the angry tears, her nails digging into her palms. "Why didn't you tell us the truth when we joined S.H.I.E.L.D. then?" She all but growled out. "And if you say _it's complicated_ , I'm going to break something" She added when Steve opened his mouth. Her parents glanced worringly at eachother. Nikki scoffed and headed for the door.

"Where are you going?" Darcy called after her.

"Anywhere but here!" Her daughter snapped. The tingling feeling had spread up her arms but she was too enraged to notice.

 ***SCENE BREAK***

D.J. looked up when the elevator dinged, surprised to see Nikki come storming in. "Hey, what's up?" He asked shutting off his computer. He could see his friend was distressed.

"Did you know?" Nikki asked, her voice trembling a little. "About my dad. Did you and Natalee know when I asked?"

D.J. sighed, running a hand through his styled brown hair. He stood up, gesturing for Nikki to take his chair. "You look like you're about to fall over. Sit" He jumped to sit on the edge of his desk. Nikki sighed and fell into the chair, crossing her arms over her chest. "There was something in the test results that we couldn't explain. Natalee was worried for you so she had me dig a little" He shrugged. "After crossing the results with the files we had in the tower's system, we found out that you and Don had the same strain of the Super Soldier Serum. Which made Steve Rogers your biological father"

"But why didn't you _tell me_?" His friend pressed, tears threatening to fall. She looked up and blinked quickly to stop them.

"I'm not pointing fingers" D.J. clarified before he continued. "I agreed with her. Natalee said it wasn't our place, that there was a reason your parents kept this from you and Don. Don't be mad at her"

Nikki sighed. "I'm not mad at Natalee...maybe a little. But I've known her long enough that she doesn't do anything unless she's thought everything through. It's just how she is. She's totally reckless but she's methodical and it's _weird_ " She said and groaned, pressing her face into her hands, her elbows resting on her knees. "I'm just so _pissed_!"

The light on his desk flickered, buzzing softly. The boy's eyebrows furrowed but he chose to ignore it. "What are you going to do?" He asked.

Nikki didn't look up, her voice muffled by her hands as she spoke. "About what?"

"About your parents, Nik" D.J. rolled his eyes. "That's gotta be hard. Captain Rogers is both a lovable dad and a total hardass all rolled into one blonde, blue eyed package"

"And that misogynistic egotistical asshole is my brother" She groaned and sat up. "What would you do?" She asked. Her friend shrugged. "Oh thanks, _love_ the help" She said sarcastically.

"It doesn't matter what I would do, Nik" D.J. leaned forward, elbows on his knees. "I'm not you. It's your decision. If you want to give your dad a chance or totally cut him off from your life, it's your choice and everyone is going to have to respect your choice" He smiled sweetly.

Nikki laughed lightly, running a hand through her hair. She paused to look at her fingers. The tingling was more noticable. Her hands were trembling slightly and she felt...fuzzy. "I'm gunna go. Maybe beat something up, I'll text you and Nat later" She said, standing up. The floor swayed under her feet and she grabbed the back of the chair to steady herself, her other hand resting against her forehead.

"Nikki, you okay?" D.J. jumped from the desk and was at her side almost instantly.

"Y-Yeah. I just...feel weird" Nikki mumbled and looked at her hand. Little bolts of electricity were jumping between her fingers. Her eyes widened just as a shot of electricity shot from her hand, hitting her in the face. Pain seared through her and she cried out, falling to the floor. The world was white and she felt like she was being electrocuted.

"Nikki?!"

 ***SCENE BREAK***

 **NATALEE POV**

We had been in the gym for about two hours. Honestly, I wasn't really keeping track of time. I had a goddess standing in front of me. I didn't realize I was distracted until Billie's foot hits me in the side. I grunt, momentarily losing my balance. I hear her try to bite back her laugh, her smile semi-hidden behind her raised fists. "Maybe you'd be able to see if your hair wasn't in your face" She quips. I mock being offended.

"My hair is majestic and cannot be tamed and you _know that_!" I dodge a punch and swipe her leg out from under her. She hits the mat with a thud and glares at me, strands of hair sticking to her forehead. I tilt my head and smile crookedly, similar to Simba's smirk in the Lion King...apparently. I never saw the movie.

"Stop giving me that look and help me up" Billie holds out her hands. As I take her hands, the power surges and we look at eachother questionally as I pull her to her feet. My watch lights up, telling me someone's calling my phone. I press answer.

 _"Something happened with Nikki, she's bleedng. Get to the lab now!"_ D.J. shouts.

"Shit" I take off with my girlfriend behind me.


	28. Chapter 28

**A/N: Me? Updating? The end is near**

Natalee and Billie ran into the twins' lab. D.J. was kneeling next to Nikki. She was shaking but refused to let him near her, shaking her head. She was hyperventilating, trying not to cry. There was broken glass from the lights, leaving them in shadows, the only source of light coming from the windows. "What happened?" Billie asked, falling to her knees next to her friend. Nikki scoots away from her, shaking her head. There's a red mark on her face, like lightning, going from the bottom of her eye down her cheek.

"I have no idea!" D.J. exclaimed. "She said she felt weird and then lightning shot from her hands and the lights exploded!"

Natalee knelt in front of her, her eyebrows furrowed, eyes focused. She reached for Nikki's hand, who squeaked and tried to scoot away. "You're not going to hurt me. Nikki, look at me" She said softly, keeping her voice level. Her friend hesitantly opened her eyes, the scarred one was bright yellow. Natalee swallowed hard and continued. "I know this is scary and you're in pain. But this does not control you, you control it. You don't want to hurt anyone, just focus. Breathe" She gently reached out again. Nikki didn't flinch away, the quiet buzzing of the little bolts jumping between her fingers got softer and softer. The tingling feeling slowly went away as Natalee took her hand. The red head smiled assuringly.

D.J. spoke. "Is this the first enhancement?" He asked. Billie raised an eyebrow at her girlfriend but decided to ask her about it later.

"This is the first ability?" Nikki asked in a small voice, staring at her free hand. Natalee had a soft grip on her other one. It was comforting. Natalee wasn't afraid of her. She didn't want to hurt her friends.

"Looks like some sort of electrical manipulation" D.J. shrugged. "That's pretty cool. Shooting lightning from your hands" He smiled, trying to help Nikki relax. Natalee leaned towards him and whispered something Nikki didn't catch. "Yeah I know" He whispered back and nodded. His eyebrows furrowed as a thought struck him. "If there's multiple abilities, are they usually similar?"

Natalee shrugged. "Sometimes. Sometimes you have no idea things were similar" She looked at their scared friend. "You don't have to worry. Just, if you start feeling weird, text one of us so you don't freak out on your own, okay?" She asked. Nikki nodded quickly. Her phone buzzed in her pocket and she excused herself, stepping into the small hallway.

 _"Hey, sweetheart"_ Her mother greeted.

"What's up?" Natalee leaned against the wall.

 _"I was wondering if you were free today. Papa had to run out on a mission for the day so I thought we could do something just the two of us"_ Natasha said.

Natalee hesitated, glancing at her friends. "Uh, yeah, sure. I'll be home in a few minutes"

 _"Okay, dushka, love you"_ Natasha said, seemingly without realizing it. She heard a sharp inhale. Natalee smiled softly.

"I'll see you in a bit" She laughed lightly and hung up. She turned to return to the lab when she suddenly realized Billie was in front of her.

Natalee squeaked when she was grabbed by the arm and pulled aside. "Nat, why didn't you tell me about all this?" Billie asked. She continued before Natalee could answer. "You used to tell me things, what you were planning, why is it different now? Because I'm your girlfriend?"

"N-No. It's just...I don't know...maybe" Natalee shrugged. She was a little flustered with being surprised. "I don't want anything to happen to you, Bird"

"So D.J., someone you _barely_ know, gets to know more about this than me?"

Natalee rolled her eyes. "It's not like that. D.J. knows what he's doing-"

"And I don't know what I'm doing?" Billie's eyebrows raised. She was getting angry. Natalee took her hands.

"I mean that D.J. stays here. He helps me and Cole from behind a computer. I'm never worried about Cole, I know how he fights. It's like a sixth sense. If you're going to be out there, I'm going to be worried for you" She pauses and looks up with a smirk. "You're very distracting, I hope you know that" She purred. Billie rolled her eyes and took her hands away.

"Trying to be cute isn't going to solve this" She said with a sigh. "You don't trust me out in the field. Or, you don't trust me _anymore_ "

Natalee sighed and ran a hand throuhg her curls. "It's not that I don't trust you. But this is a much larger conversation that I don't really have time for right now. There's alot going on-"

Billie scoffed and rolled her eyes. "Call me later, Natalee" She said and walked off. The red head's shoulders dropped and she groaned quietly.

 ***SCENE BREAK***

Natasha looked up when the elevator dinged and the doors slid open. Natalee entered, looking a little flustered. "Hey, you okay?" She asked.

"What? Y-Yeah, fine. I'm just going to change real quick" Natalee said with a nod and disappeared into her room. Natasha sighed quietly.

 **A/N: I know, this is way shorter than usual. Reviews are encouraged :)**


	29. Chapter 29

**A/N: My sister got Just Dance for the Switch for Christmas and within two days she was level 43. We're all afraid of her. The only thing that stopped her was her spraining her ankle when she stood up from sitting on the floor.**

Natalee had stopped in the bathroom, debating on attempting to put her wild hair up. _"I'd leave it down. The curls are kind of iconic"_ A voice echoed in the back of her mind. Natalee sighed irritably. _Great, I can hear you now?_ She glared at her reflection.

 _"Just waiting for you to slip, love. We're already so close. Just think of me as your morally corrupt concious"_ Archer chuckled darkly. Natalee looked at her phone, checking for any missed calls. _"Maria hasn't called you, hasn't she? Gets me thinking"_

Natalee rolled her eyes. _I really don't want to know what you're thinking, Archer._

There was a dramtic sigh. _"And I'll tell you anyways. Is Maria even on a mission? Maybe she's just grown tired of you and dropped you off with your parents like some puppy. And if that's the case, how long before your parents grow tired of you-"_

 _Shut it._ She gripped the edge of the sink. Her phone lit up, text from her mother.

 **-Ready to go?-**

Archer's dark laugh seemed to fade. _"Wouldn't want to keep your mother waiting, now would we?"_

Growling under her breath, Natalee turned away from the mirror, shutting off the light.

 ***SCENE BREAK***

Natasha noticed Natalee was distracted while they were out walking the streets of New York City. She sighed quietly, deciding to try and start up conversation again. "You've been spending alot of time with D.J." She commented. "Maria was worried you'd close off, you know, not try to make friends"

"Well, believe it or not, the infamous Red Archer is capable of playing nice when she has too" Natalee laughed lightly. "D.J.'s just been helping me and Cole find someone we know" She shrugged. There was a pause and Natalee felt that unsettling feeling in the pit of her stomach. "I tried calling Maria last night but it went straight to voicemail. She doesn't usually keep her phone off" She nibbled worringly at her lip.

"Glad to know you worry about me, little monster" A voice said from behind her. Natalee spun around, her face lighting up.

"Maria!" She launched herself into her S.O.'s arms. "What are you doing here?!"

Maria laughed lightly as she caught the girl. "My mission was cut short and I got to come home early. Natasha invited me" She glanced at the red headed woman, then back at the girl in her arms. "That's okay, right?"

Natalee sighed dramatically. "I guess if I have to spend the day with you"

"Oh you're hilarious" Maria flicked her nose and set her down on her feet. "So...what were you two planning?"

Natasha shrugged. "I was thinking we could play this by ear. This is your first time in New York, right bug?" She brushed hair from Natalee's face. "How can you see?" She mumbled.

"It is if you don't count me passing through here for missions and stuff" Natalee shrugged and batted her mother's hand away. "And I can see just fine, Mama...most of the time. Whatever, a _good_ assassin doesn't even need sight"

Maria rolled her eyes. "How about we find somewhere to eat" She looked to Natasha. "Anywhere good around here?"

 ***SCENE BREAK***

The three were sitting in a booth at IHOP. Natalee had sucked down four glasses of Mountain Dew already. She gave her mother a questioning look when she stood up. "Bathroom. Be right back" Natasha ruffled her hair.

Once out of ear shot, Maria shifted. "So...how's living with your parents? I heard you call Natasha _Mama_ earlier" She rested her chin on her hands.

"Oh. _That_. Yeah, I don't know, it felt right, I guess. After I punched my father in the face during a nightmare, I felt a little more comfortable around them. They _are_ my family" Natalee shrugged, making trails of ketchup with her fries. She flicked a fry bit at Maria. "You're my family too. Just...you never felt like a mom"

"I get that, kid. Wanna tell me the story behind your knee brace?" She smirked at her.

Natalee rolled her eyes. "I had to deal with a Renegade thing and I got hurt. This really shouldn't surprise you, I'm kind of reckless for having an enhanced healing" She paused, sighing. "You know, between you and me, I could have healed my knee the day a bullet went through it. Healing would have hurt like hell...and they'd get suspicious so I'm kind of playing an act right now"

"Natalee, I've known about your enhancements. With your amount of injuries, it wasn't hard to figure out that you've been modified in some way" Maria stole a fry from her plate. "Natasha mentioned you reuniting with an old friend of yours. Red Guardian, he's on the same wanted list you were on. And now you're trying to find someone else you know?"

The girl nodded. "I don't really know how to explain it. We thought she was dead but there's some evidence that she's not. My family has been scattered across the world, I know nothing about where they are or if they're okay. If she's really alive, me and Cole are going to find her"

Maria flicked her hand. "I know how much your family meant to you, kiddo. If there's anything I can do to help, let me know, okay?"

Natalee nodded as a man in dark clothes walked by their table. What caught her eye was the faded red scope tattoo behind his ear. _Hell fucking no_. Without looking away from the man as he headed for the door, Natalee spoke. "Maria, a Renegade agent just walked by me. Tattoo behind his ear. He knows where my friend went. I'll call you when I find out where this fuck mother is hiding" She said and took off after him.

Maria sighed, rubbing the bridge of her nose. It was better to just let her go.

 ***SCENE BREAK***

Natalee had her hood over her head. Her red curls would have given her away. She stood behind a very well placed van, using the reflection of the store in front of her to watch the man. He disappeared into a rundown brick building, the windows boarded up.

She pulled her phone from her pocket, dialing Maria's number. She bounced on her toes while she waited for it to ring. "Hey, I'm sending you my location. I'm not far but I think I have something"

 ***SCENE BREAK***

Maria and Natasha stood in front of the brick building Natalee sent them to. "This is the address but...no Natalee" Natasha sighed. "Would she really have given us the actual address?" She turned to the brunette.

"It's about seventy-thirty" Maria shrugged. The door opened and both women tensed, ready to fight.

Natalee, looking disheveled, smiled at them. "I found something" She said darkly, letting them in. The man was tied to a chair, bruised and bloody. "This fuck mother isn't giving me shit" She smacked the side of his head.

"How do you know you found anything?" Maria asked, looking around the torn apart room. They must have fought before Natalee subdued him. The girl nodded to the laptop, where files and windows were popping up and disappearing.

"D.J. is trying to see if we can break into their system. He's got all the personnel files, promised not to look at them" She smiled briefly before her angry expression returned. Grabbing a fistful of the man's hair, she forced his head up so she could look him in the face.

"Where is Scout?" She growled.

The man chuckled. "Like I'd tell a brat like you" His lips curled, showing off his bloodstained teeth. "I'm going to enjoy killing you. Just like the rest of your family-" He grunted when Natalee slammed his head against the wall.

"Where is Scout?!" She demanded. "I've seen the files, you bastard, I know you were stationed there! You know where she is! Tell me!"

"Natalee!" Maria lifted her off of him. "Hey, stop, take a breath" She set the girl on her feet. "We'll take him back to S.H.I.E.L.D.-"

"He goes _nowhere_ near S.H.I.E.L.D., Maria!" Natalee snapped at her. "You're either on my side or you're not. And you know what I'll do to people against me" She threatened.

Natasha stepped in. "Okay, everyone stop" She looked to her daughter. "Natalee, you clearly know more about this than either of us. What do you want to do?" She asked.

Natalee turned her attention to the bleeding man. She grabbed a revolver off the table, taking out five bullets. She spun the barrel and aimed it between the man's legs. Her voice was dark and threatening. "We're going to play a little Russian Roulette, except I'm changing the rules a little bit. You refuse to give me information, I pull the trigger. You give me a snarky answer, I pull the trigger. You say anything I don't like...can you guess?" She smirked, leaning closer to him. Her hand gripped his jaw, her nails digging into his skin.

"Natalee" Natasha said.

The girl ignored her. "You were stationed in Siberia, at the rundown Renegade base. Scout was sent there. Did you see her?" She asked.

The man rolled his eyes. "Like I'm telling a-" _Click_. "Hey! Whoa! Wait a minute!-" _Click._ "Stop! Okay! Okay! Yes! She was there!"

"What happened in Siberia?" Natalee asked.

"The big guys up top, they didn't want to pay for the base. It's empty now. We had to get rid of twenty kids" He said quickly, starting to panic.

Natalee's grip on his jaw tightened. "Where did Scout go?" She growled slowly.

"I-I don't know-!" _Click._ "I swear! I don't know-!" _Click_. "Hey! That's four shots! Wait! I'll tell you everything I know! I swear! Please God!" He exclaimed, completley freaking out. "The plan was to just kill the kids. The guys up top didn't want them, the project was a failure, they weren't getting the results they wanted. It was Scout and like three other kids that managed to escape, we tried to kill them but they got away. I don't know where they are, I swear! If I knew, why would I be here?!"

Maria rested her hand on Natalee's shoulder. "Kid, he's telling the truth" She whispered.

Natalee felt the pressure of Archer. _"Even if he is telling the truth, what's to stop him from running to the Renegade and telling them exactly where you are?"_ She felt something, like a hand, gently trace a finger down her jaw. _"You know I'm right, love. And you know what to do"_ Archer whispered, like she was right next to Natalee.

The red head swallowed hard. "I know" She pressed the gun to his forehead. "But I've been taught not to leave loose ends" She pulled the trigger, splattering all of them with blood.

"Natalee!" Natasha and Maria both exclaimed.

Natalee wiped the blood off her face with the back of her hand. "Listen, if we had let him live, he would have gone straight to the Renegade and then _we'd_ be dead" She said and tapped the barrell of the gun to her temple. "Thinking ahead here. Besides _she's_ done this before" Natalee nodded to her mother.

"Uh, that doesn't mean I want my fifteen year old daughter shooting someone point blank!"

Natalee rolled her eyes. "You two _do_ remember that I'm a trained assassin, right? This isn't my first time doing something like this, actually far from it" She shrugged. "We should leave before more agents get here" She sauntered towards the backdoor, taking the laptop with her.

 ***SCENE BREAK***

Nikki felt the tingling in her hands as the electricity surged through her. "I don't want to be anywhere near them!" She spat angrily. Her mother sighed, pushing her glasses back up her nose.

"Listen, kiddo, at this point I don't really care. You're going to Coney Island with your dad and I'm spending the day with your brother" Darcy said, throwing her phone and her keys into her pocket. "Steve should be here any minute. Behave" She kissed Nikki's forehead. "I mean it, Nicole"

Nikki rolled her eyes. "Yeah, yeah. No need for the full name, Mom" She sighed.

"Call me if something happens, okay? If you start to feel funny, tell someone"

"I know, Mom" Nikki groaned.

 ***SCENE BREAK***

Nikki was quiet during the car ride, though Steve would try to start conversation, asking how her training with S.H.I.E.L.D. was going, how school was, what she liked doing, normal stuff you ask your daughter.

She had her hood over her head as she and Steve walked through the entrance of Coney Island. Steve had a happy grin on his face. "I've always wanted to take you here" He said warmly. "You mom and I thought it would be better if you came with me and your brother went with her. Figured it would be better since you and your brother don't really get along" He shrugged, grabbing a map from a display, even though he knew the park by heart.

Nikki scoffed, rolling her eyes. "Don't call Don _my brother_ " She scowled.

Steve handed her the map as he continued their conversation. "You know, I never actually heard about what happened that started the feud between Natalee and Don" His expression remained friendly. It was kind of annoying.

The girl sighed. "When Natalee came to S.H.I.E.L.D., she was this scrawny kid from Russia with wild red hair and a lisp. And since Don is _Captain America_ 's son, having her wipe the floor with him didn't sit well. She didn't like his attitude about him being beaten and now they just kind of hate eachother" She paused, stepping out of the way of a child running passed them. "Natalee's my friend. And Don has always been kind of annoying even before Natalee showed up" She shrugged.

"Nikki, I'm sorry I wasn't there for you. And I want you to know that that's going to change, okay? From now on, I would like to be your dad. If you'd let me" Steve said softly. He sighed and smiled, something catching his eye. "I understand that this is awkward... _so_ I asked for a friend to join us"

His daughter looked up from looking at the rides on the map. "A friend? What, like an old dude in a wheelchair?" She snorted.

Steve chuckled. "Not quite. Hey, Buck!" He called. Nikki turned to see _the_ Bucky Barnes walking towards them. His hair was long, up in a small man-bun, dressed in a long sleeve shirt and jeans.

"Hey punk" Bucky smiled as he hugged his friend. His attention turned to Nikki, who suddenly felt very small. "This must be Nikki. I'm-"

"Sergeant Barnes with the Howling Comandos" Nikki smiled. "Yeah, I know who you are. This is-it's actually really cool to meet you"

Steve nudged his friend. "I thought you were bringing-"

"Shit" Bucky looked around. "She was right with me. Wait, there she is" His shoulder's dropped in relief as a girl around Nikki's age ran up.

"James, you missed the birds fighting" She said with a laugh. Her long brown hair was braided down her back, wearing long sleeves and fingerless leather gloves. "Oh, hey you must Nikki!" Her smile grew as she stuck out her hand. A metal hand colored gold. "I'm Vanessa"

 **A/N: Semi cliff hanger?**


	30. Chapter 30

**A/N: Sorry for the long wait. Let me know what you think, reviews are appreciated :D**

 **NATALEE POV**

Mama and Papa are sitting on the couch when Cole and I walk in. "What's the code for the Avengjet?" I ask. D.J. had hit a dead end with our Nessa search so Cole had suggested we check out the abandonded Renegade base in Siberia, see if we can find anything on their computers. Records, security feed, anything to give us a lead.

Papa shares a look with Mama and turns to face me. "Why?" He asks, popping a handful of popcorn into his mouth.

I feel my eyebrow twitch. I really don't want to tell them what we're doing. Anything dealing with the Renegade is difficult. I don't want them getting hurt. "Because I need it?" I shift on my feet.

Mama raises an eyebrow at me. Yeah, that makes me feel funny. Like when Mami used to give us that _you're in trouble_ look. Gives me chills. "We're going to need a better answer than that, bug" She says, glancing at Cole. He looks tense, probably noticed the look too. "Can either of you fly a plane?"

"Natalee's better at it" Cole shrugs, adjusting the strap on his helmet. He steps closer to me, turning away from them and bringing his voice down. "We should try to get a hold of Ange, see if she can find Air Red so we don't have to go through this everytime we need to go overseas" He tells me. I sigh, nodding.

"But we need a jet _now_ , Cole. I'm not waiting for her to find the warehouse hidden somewhere in Europe" I say and turn to my parents. Maybe they'll accept the vauge version of our plan. "There's an abandoned base in Sibera that could have information on where our friend went. We need a plane to get there"

Papa chuckles. "Kiddo, we can't just let you take the Avengjet by yourself to Siberia"

I hear the clip of Cole's helmet. "So come with us" He shrugs. I nearly choke on the spit in my mouth, turning to smack his arm. I shake my head when he looks at me, my eyes wide. _No fucking way, Cole._

He swats my hand away. " _Oni ne sobirayutsya pozvolyat' nam samim ispol'zovat' samolot. Budet legche, yesli oni pridut s nami vmesto Endzhi pytayas' nayti Air Red_ " He says. (They are not going to let us use the plane. It will be easier if they come with us instead of Angie trying to find Air Red)

I grunt in frustration, higher pitched then I meant it. I must have sounded like a puppy. I turn to Mama and Papa. "If you come with us, can we take the Avengjet?" I ask with a sigh. They look at eachother and Papa shrugs.

Mama stands up with a tired sigh. "We have a smaller jet, we can take that" She says. Cole grins at me. Papa ruffles my curls as he follows her to their room.

"We'll meet you in the hangar" Cole calls after them and turns to me. "See? Problem solved" He says with an amused look on his face.

I roll my eyes and head for the elevator. "I hate you and I hope you take that to heart" I say over my shoulder.

 ***SCENE BREAK***

Mama and Papa's plane is smaller than the Avengjet. It seems faster though. The ding of the elevator makes both of us turn. Maybe this won't be so bad. The base is empty, there shouldn't be a problem. "Mama, can I fly the plane?" I ask with a hopeful smile. "I have the highest score in the flight simulator" I add.

"Have you actually flown a plane before?" Mama asks, heading for the ramp of the plane.

I think for a second. When me and my family were escaping from the Renegade when I was ten, our originally planned pilot got hurt so I had to take over. I wasn't super experienced but he led me through it. Actually, I remember it feeling really natural. Then there was the time where a group of us in S.H.I.E.L.D. went for a joy ride in one of the quinjets. Yeah, Maria was not happy with me. I shake my head to focus. "Twice" I answer, following her up the ramp.

"Come on, Tash, let's see what she's got" Papa pecks her cheek. Mama shrugs reluctantly, nodding to the pilot's seat. I grin.

 _"Spasibo, Mama_ " I kiss her other cheek. (Thank you, Mama) Cole's leaning against the back of the seat as I jump in, handing him my quiver and the bow attached. This could be fun.

 ***SCENE BREAK***

I sigh as I see the cliffside where the Renegade base was hidden. "We're getting close" I say, speaking mainly to Cole. I turn the plane so I can circle around.

"What'cha doing, kid?" Papa asks.

Cole answers before I can. "We don't know if their defenses are still online. Even if it's been abandoned for about six years. Nat's being careful" He says.

"I'm looking for a place to land" I roll my eyes. No, he's right. I am looking for defenses. I just want to be funny. "They would have shot us down by now" I say as I start decending the plane towards a flatter part of the cliffside.

 ***SCENE BREAK***

Snow covers the ground and the wind howled through the mountains. I clip my quiver onto my back and follow Cole towards a large metal door. "What do you think?" I ask.

"There's no power. No power means the door can't open" He says and sighs. "If we blow the door, we risk half the mountain falling down"

"Can we get it open enough to get your shield wedged in? Then maybe we can force the door open?" I suggest. It's not a very good plan. The door is heavy and made of thick metal.

Cole taps his chin, his green eyes narrowed and focused. "Do you have electrified arrows?" He asks. It doesn't take long for me to catch on. If we can get enough electricity, we can turn the door on long enough to open it.

"Uh, guys" Papa calls from the door. We had been so focused on our plan to open the door, we didn't notice my parents slip right by us. The door creaks open. "The door is unlocked" He chuckles.

"We have failed as assassins" Cole grumbles, rubbing his eyes. I hear the hint of a laugh in his voice.

"Come on" I laugh.

 ***SCENE BREAK***

There was a short tunnel, pipes lining the wall, leading to the larger part of the base. High ceiling, multiple catwalks, some falling apart. Dust covered the floor and a draft blew from the multiple passageways. "Are you getting a haunted pirate ship feeling too?" I ask Cole, looking around. I switched the mode on my mask, briefly changing it to an infared view. No noticable heat signatures besides my family. I switch infared off. "We're clear" I tell him.

"This is a computer, right?" Cole asks, standing by a large machine in the middle of the room.

Papa speaks up. "You won't be able to get anything off of that without power" He pauses. "Maybe there's a generator around that still works?" He suggests.

"Wouldn't that also turn on the alarm system?" Mama asks.

Cole nods. "She's right. We need an isolated power source" His fingers drum on the edge of the table. He does that when he's thinking, sometimes it's obnoxious. "We split up. Look for a portable generator. We're in the middle of nowhere, they have to have one"

Mama shakes her head. "There could be anything here, splitting up isn't a good idea" She's just worried about me.

"Fine. You go with Natalee. Clint can come with me" Cole shrugs and walks away, gesturing for Clint to go with him. I sigh. He's doing his whole stoic lone wolf thing. Now _that's_ annoying.

Mama nudges me. "How about we start there?" She gestures to a corridor. I nod and follow her.

The hallway has an eery feeling to it. Chills run down my spine, every part of me telling me to turn around. To run and forget we ever saw this hallway. But it was also like I was being pulled down it. There's a door partially opened, a word written in Romanian. _Cercetaș_. Scout. I swallow hard and push it open completley. The heavy metal of the door scrapes against the floor and Mama stops to see what I'm doing. "What is it?" She asks.

"I don't know" I step into the room. There are two sets of bunk beds, faded drawings pinned to the walls and scattering the floor. Like children lived here. The air feels thick, like I can't breathe. There's a _V_ with a star carved into wall by one of the top bunks. I swallow hard and quickly look around. Nessa was here. I pull myself up onto the bunk.

"Natalee, I don't think there's a generator up there" Mama says. I ignore her, running my fingers over the ridges of the brick wall. There's a brick close to the mattress that's loose. I manage to wriggle my fingers through the crack to pull the brick out. It's like there's a small compartment carved into the wall. Nothing but an old dusty photo.

"Nessie" I sigh, brushing the dust off. It was the last photo we all took as a family. Something small hitting my cheek pulls me from the photo and I wipe what is apparently a tear. Great, let's hope Mama didn't see that. I slip the photo into an inside pocket of my suit and climb off the bunk. "Yeah, there's nothing up there. Let's try another room" I say, walking past her. She grabs my hand.

"Natalee-"

"Not now" My voice comes out a little more snappish than it should have. I pull my hand away, closing my eyes for a second. I open my mouth but static in my comm distracts me. "Cole?"

 _"We found a generator. Should be enough to power the computer"_

I nod, glancing at Mama, who doesn't look pleased with me so I look at the floor. "We'll meet you there" I say and look at Mama again. "I don't want to talk about it right now, okay? Just not here" I turn and head back down the corridor.

Cole and Papa look like they had a better time than us. Papa says something and Cole laughs. I feel my lips tug up. At least they're getting along. "You ready?" Cole asks when he sees me.

"Let's see what this thing has" I shrug. We easily hook the generator up to the system and it hums to life. Cole taps away at the ancient keyboard, trying to figure out how to activate the system.

"We need some sort of passcode" He tells me and groans, running his hand over his face. "Fuck. You think they have it written down somewhere?"

I see another option on the screen. A scanner. _Fuck_. I swallow hard and unclip my watch from my wrist. I click the scanner option and a light turns on. I don't look at my parents, they'll ask about the tattoo later anyway. I nod to Cole, silently telling him to take over while I put my watch back on.

"There's not a whole lot here" He says. "I'm not even sure what they were trying to do. Child soldiers? It's nothing really different from where we were. Just...shittier" He shrugs.

I lean against the desk. "See if there's anything about Nessa. Search for Scout" I tell him. The screen switches to personell files. There's a photo of a girl, around the age of twelve, brown hair and eyes. The face is scanned and more windows start popping up. "We need the most recent thing" I add. Cole nods and taps a few more keys.

"Wait, here. Surveilence" He pulls up a video. It's a little grainy from their shit security system. Three girls are running through the corridors, all in mission suits, all armed. But one had a golden metal arm. There was a box around her face from the face trace.

"That's Nessa" A relieved smile appears on my face. "They're escaping"

Gunfire echoes in the video and the three girls run into the room we're currently standing in. The big door opens, the light from outside streaming across the floor. Nessa shoots at the people chasing them and they disappear from the camera. "She's alive" Cole says and breaks out into a laugh. "She's alive! Nessa escaped! She's out there!" He lifts me up in an excited hug.

"You doubted me?" I strain, his hug a little tight. Cole shrugs and drops me on my feet. I crouch by the generator, seeing the power supply was low. "The generator doesn't have much left. Let's just download everything here and go through it later" I stand, brushing my hair from my face.

"The faster we get out of this place, the better" He agrees and hits download.

 ***SCENE BREAK***  
 **NO POV**

Steve and Bucky were waiting in one line for the Cyclone while Vanessa and Nikki were waiting in the line behind them. "How did you and Bucky meet?" Nikki asked.

"She tried to kill me" Bucky said over his shoulder. Steve snorted in laughter.

"Yes and no" Vanessa shrugged. "Settle in, kid, I'm 'bout to tell you the fasinating tale of how I met Bucky Barnes" She slung an arm over Nikki's shoulder


	31. Chapter 31

**A/N: Sorry this is like super late. Mix of writers block and some other stuff. Enjoy :)**

 **FLASHBACK**

Thirteen year old Vanessa pried open a dirty window and rolled in. The building was old, rundown, about three stories. Vanessa had been chased through the streets of rural Bucharest, Romania for a few days. She managed to grab enough to eat every once in a while to keep her awake and fighting but it was getting hard. She was getting tired.

The apartment she had broken into looked semi lived in. It was dirty and dusty but there were fresh dishes in the sink. Vanessa glanced out the open window, spotting the black van slowly driving down the street. She pulled the window closed and brushed the stray strands of hair from her face. The place seemed empty.

Sighing, Vanessa set her gun on the small table and took a seat in a rickety old chair. She tossed her jacket aside, leaving her in a black tank top, to remove her golden metal arm. She wanted to check it for any damage. She knew a bullet had hit her somewhere, and she wasn't able to get the necessary adjustments as she grew. Callibration was slightly off. Her arm had been designed to come apart about halfway down her upper arm, and her wrist.

A shadow grew behind Vanessa and she was suddenly struck in the back of the head.

 ***SCENE BREAK***

Vanessa groaned as she woke up, a dull aching pain in the back of her head. She shook her head, trying to wake herself up more. Most likely a concussion. She was sitting in the same broken down chair, her wrist tied to the chair legs behind her.

 _"Who sent you?"_ A dark, gruff voice demanded in Romanian. A man was sitting in the chair in front of her, eyes bloodshot and sunken. His jaw-length shaggy brown hair was getting in his eyes. She would have thought he was a homeless man if his left arm wasn't shiny. Was it metal like hers?

 _"Renegade?"_ She nodded to his arm. _"Or Hydra?"_

 _"You know of Hydra?"_ His head tilted.

Vanessa rolled her eyes. _"I am trying to run from Hydra. No one sent me"_ She growled. Behind the man, her hand had detached from the rest of the arm, slowly crawling down the table leg like a spider. Her arm was still contected to her even when detached. Kind of like Bluetooth, with a chip in her head. _"Who are you?"_ She asked, trying to keep him distracted.

The man seemed to cringe. Like it hurt to think about. _"J-James"_

She nodded to his arm again. _"And Hydra did that to you?"_ She asked.

The man, James, nodded. _"I think so"_

Vanessa's hand slowly made it's way through the trash and debris. Old newspapers, boxes of dishes. The hand stayed in the shadows, moving slowly. _"I didn't come here to hurt you, James"_ She told him. _"Hydra's after you too, right? They wouldn't have fixed you like that if they didn't intend on keeping you"_ Her hand was behind her now. She could feel it tugging at the rope tied to her wrist. The rope loosened and she slipped her hand out, grabbing the detatched metal hand. Vanessa threw the hand at him and it gripped his throat. He rocked backwards, rolling out of his chair while he tried to fight the hand off.

Vanessa ran over to the table and locked her metal arm in place. The hand released him and she scooped it off the floor, reattaching it. She had grabbed the gun off the table and pointed it at James. _"I don't want to hurt you, James. How about a truce, yeah?"_

 _"Fine"_ He growled. Vanessa stepped back, gun still pointed at him.

 **END OF FLASHBACK**

Nikki was laughing. "Your hand tried to choke him out!"

Vanessa grinned at Bucky, who rolled his eyes. "He convinced me to stay with him after we fought off a group of Hydra agents together. That was pretty badass" She shrugged. "Enemy of my enemy is my friend type of thing at first"

"Then she started following me around like a stray dog" Bucky chuckled. "Kind of had to keep her" He gently shouldered her. Vanessa rolled her eyes.

 ***SCENE BREAK***

Cole was down in D.J.'s lab, both of them going the footage he and Natalee had found. Natalee had told him she needed some time to herself. Everything was starting to get overwhelming and she didn't need to start panicking. The night air was oddly soothing, having spent many nights out in the cold before her time at S.H.I.E.L.D.. Natalee was looking at her phone, the light of the screen reflecting off the gloss in her eyes. She swallowed hard as she brought the phone to her ear, sitting near the edge of the roof.

 _"Red?"_

Natalee felt the air flood into her lungs. Just hearing Billie's voice made everything better. "Hey" She said quietly.

 _"You okay?"_ Her girlfriend immediately sounded worried.

"Yeah. I've just been thinking...you know, about what you said when Nikki got that first power. I know you can handle yourself, I trust you. More than I've ever trusted anyone lately" She paused, taking a deep breath. "I care about you, Billie. A lot. You're important to me. I don't always know what you're thinking and that terrifies me"

 _"Give me a chance, I know what I'm doing. I know what you're thinking most of the time"_ Billie's voice was soft and soothing. Natalee shifted, sitting more against the edge of the roof, her knees pulled closer to her body. _"You sure you're okay?"_

"Yeah, I'll be fine. A lot's been going on. The friend Cole and I have been trying to find, she's more than a friend. She's basically my sister. And we thought she died. The Renegade, they sent here away to this other program and a few months later, they told us it was too much and she died. I don't know why I believed it-"

 _"Natalee, you were, what? Ten? You didn't know any better"_

"But I _should_ have" Natalee's voice cracked and she stopped, closing her eyes and swallowing hard. "I should have looked for her once I got to S.H.I.E.L.D.. I should be looking for all of them. Some of them are just kids, out there alone-"

Billie stopped her. _"You're a kid too, Red. You keep forgetting that, trying to do your stupid lone hero thing, thinking you can take on these entire assassin groups. You're just one person, Nat, no one is expecting this of you. Let people help you"_

Natalee nodded, squeezing her eyes shut. "I know, I know. I'm trying"

 _"Hey, if you're calling people in, I expect to be on that list"_ Her girlfriend said, a joking tone in her voice.

The redhead let a laugh escape, nodding even though Billie couldn't see it. "I promise. And you know how seriously I take my promises" She said and sighed. "I'm going to go. Thanks for picking up, Bird"

 _"Always"_ Billie said and there was a click.

 ***SCENE BREAK***

The park was closing and the group of four were out in the parking lot. Steve clasped his friend on the shoulder. "You and Vanessa are always welcome to stay at the tower with us whenever you need" He said. "I know you still have some pieces of your memory missing. The tower's safe, we can help you"

Bucky smiled softly. "I'll have to talk to Vanessa about it, maybe try staying a couple days" He shrugged. "Her and Nikki seem to get along" He glanced over his shoulder, where the girls were walking a few feet behind them. "Maybe we can crash at your place tonight?" He rubbed the back of his neck. The apartment they had broken into was abandoned. No power. And it was starting to get cold.

Steve seemed to brighten. "Of course you can. Just follow us out, Avengers Tower is pretty easy to find" He shrugged. Bucky nodded, he was looking at Vanessa and Nikki.

Vanessa rubbed the bridge of her nose. "Listen, this Don guy sounds like a total jerk but you have not experienced sibling hell until you have fourteen siblings"

"Jesus, how did you survive?" Nikki laughed.

"Well, five of them are all in their mid twenties by now and I was sent to Sibera when I turned ten so I didn't see them alot after that. It was so chaotic but we loved eachother" She said and sighed. "Family is an important thing. And according to Bucky, we're kind of family"

"I guess so" The girl smiled. Bucky got Vanessa's attention and she raised her eyebrows in a silent _what?_ Nikki picked up her pace to catch up with Steve, giving Vanessa and Bucky some space.

Bucky brought his voice down. "How do you feel about staying the night with Nikki and Steve?" He asked.

Vanessa shrugged. "Well our power is still out so, yeah, why not?" She gave him a crooked smile. The brunette man laughed lightly, rolling his eyes. "Relax, _om batran_ , it'll be fun" She shouldered him playfully. (old man)

 **A/N: I edited the ending to fit a little better in my storyline.**


	32. Chapter 32

**A/N: My soccer team is currently tied for first so yeah, I have that going for me :D**

 **NATALEE POV**

 _I wake up standing on the porch of a farmhouse. The wood is faded, sunkissed, a broken down swing to my left. There's a line of muddy rainboots lining the wall to my right. Swallowing hard, I reach out with a shaky hand to turn the doorknob. The door creaks open and I take a hesitant step inside. The sun is streaming in through the windows, making everything seem to glow. It's warm and soft. Children's shoes line the hallway by the door. The floorboards creak beneath my feet as I enter the livingroom, left of the hallway. There's an old TV with a DVD player, a small shelf with children's movies. Mostly Disney. Photos and drawings cover the walls._

 _"Natalee?" A voice makes me jump and I spin around, my hand instictively going to where my gun_ _ **should**_ _be. I'm empty. No weapons. Not like I need one. Mami is standing in front of me, her brown eyes are big and worried, like she can't believe I'm standing in front of her._

 _I feel the sting of tears in my own eyes. "M-Mami?" My voice comes out a whimper. Before I realize it, I was across the room and in her arms. It's warm and safe. My chest constricts and I press my face to her collarbone, breathing in her lavender smell. Her Mami smell._

 _She hugs me tightly, pressing kisses to my head. "Oh, my girl. My beautful girl, look at you" She cooes softly. My relieved laugh comes out a sob as my fingers grip the back of her shirt. "My Natalee, my wonderful Natalee, you're safe. You're okay" She gently pulls away, one hand cupping my face, her thumb brushing some of the tears away. "I'm here, mi amor" She whispers softly._

 _"I'm so sorry, Mami" I manage to get out. I can barely breath, my throat tight, hands shaking._

 _"What for?" Her head tilts, an unsure expression on her face._

 _"I should have been looking...for them. For everyone that...that got out. Cole and I...we got separated. A-And I replaced you!" The tears come again and I can't stop the whimpering sob that escapes._

 _Mami brushes hair from my face, tucking curls behind my ear. "Come on, let's go snuggle on the couch, yeah? You look exhausted" She gently takes my hand and moves us to the couch. Once sitting, she holds her arms out for me and I dive into them. Mami has always been safe. Always room for another kid, she'd say. "Tell me what's been going on, you look-what? Fourteen?"_

 _"Fifteen, Mami" I murmur against her chest. She hums softly, a small acknowledgement. Her fingers are gently playing with my hair, an occasional tug on my curls. "Cole and I got separated when we got to America, then I was on the run from an outside government organization called S.H.I.E.L.D. for a few months. Since then, I've been training in their junior program. A while ago, they pulled me aside. There had been an incident with on of my missions and they tested my blood. My biological parents had been at S.H.I.E.L.D. since before I was born"_

 _"You found your parents" There's a relieved hint in her voice. "What are they like?" She asks, shifting against the couch, her arms still wrapped around me._

 _"You'd like Mama" I say with a sigh. "She's pretty badass, protective of me. And Papa's funny. He's been shooting with me, like with arrows and stuff" I pause, nibbling on my lip, and sit up so I can look at her. "They're uh, they're Black Widow and Hawkeye. You know, like from the Avengers?" I'm looking at her fingers, gently playing with her fringers, and her ring. It's a gold band she wears on her middle finger of her right hand. I don't remember where she got it or why she wore it but I remember never seeing her without it._

 _When I do look up, she's looking at me curiously, eyebrows raised in a silent_ _ **go on**_ _. "The Avengers?" She prompts. We had all heard of the Avengers, it was kind of hard not to. Most of us had taken a liking to Black Widow. The Renegade agents mentioned her the most._

 _I swallow hard, sniffling. "They've all got kids, who are all on this team called the Defenders. They're pretty cool. The Asgardian, Astrid, she's insanely pretty" I stop as a thought hits me. I smile. "Speaking of insanely pretty. I, uh, I have a girlfriend now" I look up at her, biting my lip. Mami was in no way homophobic, multiple kids who were older than me had all come out as different sexualities and she was always extremly supportive. But I hadn't seen this woman in almost six years, one of her kids is suddenly a teenager and dating._

 _Mami grins, a mischevious glint in her eyes. "A girlfriend, huh?" She wiggles her eyebrows and I laugh lightly. "Tell me everything, mi amor. What's her name? What's she like?"_

 _I feel the heat spread across my cheeks, just thinking about Billie gives me this fuzzy feeling, followed by that nervous_ _ **I'm going to throw up**_ _feeling. "Uh, well, her name is Billie - actually, her full name is Willow but everyone calls her Billie. I call her Bird, though, 'cause her codename is Mocking Jay. She's my age, blonde,_ _ **so much**_ _taller than me. And she's really pretty and sweet and just looking at her makes me feel all weird" I run my fingers through my hair, the side bangs partialling falling into my face again. "She's been helping me, you know, with my nightmares. We've been roomates since I was put into the junior program at S.H.I.E.L.D. but we only recently started dating" I stop, shaking my head. "Sorry, I'm rambling"_

 _Mami takes my hand, giving it a reassuring squeeze. "No, you're not. It sounds like you really like this girl, and she really likes you" Her other hand gently cups my cheek and I lean into her palm. "You know, if I was there, I'd give her that_ _ **you hurt my daughter, I'll make you disappear**_ _talk, right?"_

 _I laugh, rolling my eyes. "You aren't very threatening, Mami" I tell her. The hand holding mine let's go to flick my nose._

 _"Don't sass your mother" She scolds jokingly._

 _There's a pause, I'm not looking at her face. I sigh, my shoulders dropping. "I miss you, Mami" I whisper._

 _Her thumb gently rubs my cheekbone. "I know, mi amor" She murmurs. She smiles but her eyes are sad. "Natalee, I am_ _ **always**_ _with you, you understand? I know you're worried about replacing me with your Mama but you're not. You're learning to trust again and I am_ _ **so**_ _proud of you" She brings my chin up. "Let people in, Natalee. Your girlfriend, your parents, I know they'll be there for you, you just have to give them a chance"_

 _I nod. "I'll try, Mami. I promise" My voice is starting to shake._

 _She smiles softly. "Tell your Mama to take care of my girl, yeah?" She leans forward to kiss my forehead. Subconsiously, I close my eyes. "I love you"_

 ***SCENE BREAK***

The warm fuzzy feeling is gone and the smell of lavender is just a memory. I'm back on the roof of the tower, the wind sending chills running down my spine. My phone buzzes next to me, nearly making me jump, and I flip it over to see the screen. It's Mama. I rub my eyes as I press answer, holding the phone to my ear. "What?" I ask with a small huff.

 _"You okay? You just disappeared, we were getting worried"_ Mama says, her voice calm and level .

"Yeah, I'm fine. I guess I fell asleep. I'll be down in a minute" I say, standing up. Mami's voice echoes in the back of my mind. _Give them a chance._

 ***SCENE BREAK***  
 **NEXT DAY...**

Natalee was standing in the kitchen. It had been a rough night, alot of tossing and turning. She had a photo in her hand, her eyebrows knitted together, eyes narrowed. Her nails gently played with the edges, burnt and torn. The photo was faded but it was the only one of her Mami that she had. The woman was smiling, looking like she was laughing. Her blonde hair was pulled out of her face, in a bun with strands still falling out. "Is that Mami?" Cole asked, making her jump. He was standing in front of her.

"You scared me" She said with a relieved sigh. Placing the photo on the counter, she slid it towards the red headed boy. "Yeah, it is. I had a dream about her last night. It was like she was really there. I'm just...I miss her"

Cole gently took her hand as he picked up the photo. His green eyes were popping more than usual, could be the shadow of his hair falling into his face. "She was our mother, Natalee. Of course, you're going to miss her" His voice was hushed. "How much does _mother number two_ know?" He asked with a smirk.

Natalee pulled her hand away. "That's not funny, Alexei" She said, using his real name. Cole groaned, running a hand through his hair.

"Really? With the real name?" He asked, holding the photo out to her between his fingers. The girl glared at him as she took the photo back. "I'm running out today. I'll be back later. It's a Guardian mission, something I started back before"

"My comm is always on" Natalee kissed his cheek as she walked away, heading for the elevator.

"I'll try not to follow in your footsteps and get shot in the knee" He called after her, getting a middle finger over her shoulder in response.

 ***SCENE BREAK***

Don yawned as he wandered from his room, scrubbing a hand through his hair, in sweatpants and a t-shirt. He rubbed the grit from his eyes, entering the kitchen. Vanessa was sitting on the other side of the table, her metal arm sitting in front of her, not attached. Her arm ended just beneath her shoulder. Don paused, eyebrows furrowing together. Vanessa glanced up from eating, raising her spoon in a greeting. "And you are?" Don asked.

"Not a threat" Vanessa said and smirked. "Nah, it's cool. I'm Vanessa" She brought the spoon into her mouth.

Footsteps echoed dully against the wood floor as Steve and Bucky entered the room. "Don, there you are" Steve smiled, running his fingers through his son's messy blonde hair as he walked by to open the fridge. "I see you've met Vanessa"

Don was staring wide-eyed at Bucky. "Oh my god, you're Bucky Barnes" He said in amazement. "This is so cool"

"You must be Don" Bucky's voice was gravely from sleep, strands of hair falling from his little ponytail. "Your dad has told me alot about you"

"He's a total mom" Vanessa added, her mouth full.

"Ness" Bucky said with a sigh and the girl grinned, wiggling her eyebrows as her detached metal hand finger gunned at him. "Why is your arm sitting on the table?"

Vanessa snorted like it was a dumb question. "Uhm, I don't sleep with the arm on, that's fucking stupid" She shrugged and put the spoon in her mouth again. Bucky shook her head, deciding to not get into it.

"I invited them to stay the night. Vanessa is...a friend? of Bucky's" Steve looked at Bucky with a questioning look.

"She's like a mix of a pet and a child" Bucky shrugged and a Cheerio hit him in the temple. and turned to his friend. "You can call her my daughter, we don't care" He added. There was a buzz from Steve's pocket and he pulled out his phone.

"Darcy and Nikki are on their way down for breakfast" He said with a smile.

Bucky grinned. "I finally get to meet the girl you had two kids with?" He laced his fingers together, setting his chin on his hands and his elbows on the table. Steve laughed lightly, shaking his head.

 ***SCENE BREAK***

The elevator opened and Darcy and Nikki stepped out. "Nikki, catch!" Vanessa shouted and her detatched hand was flung across the room. Nikki managed to grab it, fumbling for a moment. She gave the girl a _what the hell?_ look. Vanessa turned to Don. "See? You just have terrible hand-eye coordination" She said. Don rolled his eyes, an amused look on his face.

Steve, deciding to ignore what just happened, turned his attention to Darcy. "We made breakfast. Well, I did" He shrugged.

Bucky smiled. "Darcy, right?" He asked.

"That's me" Darcy stole the bacon strip from one of the plates. She met Vanessa's eyes. "You must be Vanessa. Nikki was very excited when she came home"

"Mom" Nikki groaned.

"And _you_ must be Darcy" Vanessa grinned. "I'm letting you know now, I'm corrupting your daughter" She joked, winking at Nikki, who rolled her eyes.

The brunette woman laughed. "You wouldn't be the first" She said.

Don nudged Vanessa. "Maybe Nikki and I can introduce you to the Defenders" He suggested. "You know, after breakfast"

"Oh yeah, you're going to love Billie and Nat" Nikki added excitedly, grabbing a banana from the bowl in front of her.

 **A/N: I edited the end of chapter 31 in case anyone didn't catch that**


End file.
